Canada on Friday pledged $156 million to help reduce the WMD threat in the former Soviet Union, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 30).
(Jun. 29) -
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, shown in May, announced last week that Canada would provide $156 million to bolster WMD security in the former Soviet Union (Toru Yamanaka/Getty Images).
"Terrorists are actively seeking weapons of mass destruction and the materials to make them," Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a press release. "The most effective way to prevent this is to tightly control access to weapons-usable materials."
Ottawa is contributing the money through the Groups of Eight nations' Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.
"Projects under the Global Partnership Program will significantly reduce the threat that terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction poses to Canadians and the entire international community," Cannon said during a meeting of G-8 foreign ministers in Trieste, Italy.
The Canadian funding is primarily focused on Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. Money is set to be used to improve seven Russian nuclear sites; design a storage site for disease materials in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; provide civilian research opportunities for roughly 828 former weapons researchers; and disassemble five decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines.
This pledge brings Canada's total contribution to the partnership to $868 million (Agence France-Presse/Google News, June 26).