The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, leads the Chilean delegation to attend on March 24 and 25 the Third Nuclear Security Summit held in the Hague, which brings together the most prominent authorities of 53 States, the European Union, the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The purpose of this meeting is to strengthen nuclear security, reduce the constant threat of nuclear terrorism and assess the progress made since the first summit was held in Washington, D.C. in 2010. On that occasion, U.S. President Barack Obama invited the leaders of 47 countries, including Chile, to highlight and prevent the threat of nuclear terrorism, which he described as "one of the greatest threats to international security."
Progress made after the first summit was discussed at a second meeting, which was held in 2012 in Seoul. This time, the summit aims at further advancing the establishment of a nuclear security architecture comprising legal instruments, technical codes and a culture applicable to all nuclear operators.
Besides Minister Muñoz, the summit is being attended by President Obama; the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel; the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping; the President of the Government of Spain, Mariano Rajoy; the President of France, Francois Hollande and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, among others. It is worth noting that Chile is one of the four Latin American countries participating in this initiative along with Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
On this occasion, Minister Muñoz is due to speak at Tuesday's plenary session, when he will refer to our country's major achievements in this area since the Seoul Summit (2012). As it is the case of the establishment of a nuclear security support center, which is in its final stage, and the support provided to initiatives and mechanisms to improve security and prevent nuclear terrorism, both regionally and globally.
In addition to participating in the plenary sessions, the foreign minister will hold bilateral meetings with New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federica Morgherini. Minister Muñoz has held informal dialogues with Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo, Argentina's Vice President Amado Boudou, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Russia, Morocco and South Africa, among others.
The Chilean delegation is also composed by the Director General of Foreign Policy, Ambassador Alfredo Labbé; the Ambassador of Chile to the Netherlands, Juan Martabit; the Director of International Security at the Foreign Ministry, Alfredo García; the Executive Director of the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission, Jaime Salas; the Deputy Director of International Security at the Foreign Ministry, Juan Salazar, as well as members of the Chilean Embassy in the Netherlands.
On this visit to The Hague, Minister Muñoz paid an official visit to the International Court of Justice , where he met its President, Peter Tomka, and Vice-President Bernardo Sepúlveda- Amor.