Mrs. Arroyo was among the earliest to extend support to the campaign aimed at securing loose nuclear weapons and stockpiles within four years, citing the importance of the GICNT especially that there are millions of Filipinos all over the world today.
In a letter to the US President, who is also co-chair of the GICNT, President Arroyo conveyed “the Philippines has been resolute in fighting terror and is ready to align itself with the rest of the international community in confronting the grave threat which nuclear terrorism poses.”
In the same letter, Mrs. Arroyo confirmed the GRP’s participation to the GICNT, as she fully endorsed its statement of principles.
“In 180 countries all over the world, there are Filipinos today and therefore we are specially glad that there are efforts like this to combat nuclear terrorism,” Icban quoted the President as saying.
The President further said in her letter “the Philippines is actively committed to combating nuclear terrorism in a determined and systematic way, consistent with our national policy and capabilities.”
Days before the NSS, President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medebedev signed the new START treaty, which reduces both countries’ nuclear arsenal to 1,550 weapons.
Arroyo further said the coming month (May) presents the country with a timely opportunity to engage in multilateral diplomacy towards strengthening the three pillars of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the Philippines chairs the 2010 Review Conference of the NPT.
“It is my hope that the United States of America will once again demonstrate its responsible leadership by helping ensure the success of the Review Conference,” said President Arroyo in her letter.
President Arroyo, aboard a Philippine Airlines special flight from Manila, landed at the Andrews Air Force Base, which is a half-hour drive to the capital, around 5:30 p.m. She proceeded right away to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where she was personally welcomed by President Obama.
The center, venue of the summit, is located at the tightly-secured US capital.
Meanwhile, the NSS is billed as the biggest gathering of world leaders to take place on U.S. soil since the founding conference of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 with 40 nations in attendance.
Obama, the main convenor of the summit, had set up a leaders’ arrival area at the Washington Center to welcome the delegates who will meet this Wednesday, April 13, to find a consensus on the US sponsorship of plans to counter the possibility of nuclear and radiological materials illicitly finding their way into the hands of terrorists.
Obama greeted the world leaders one after the other as they lined up to be acknowledged at the reception, carried live by TV all over the world. About a thousand journalists watched the reception line from a separate room with giant projectors
The US President also had separate meetings with some of the heads of states earlier in the day.
President Arroyo’s turn at the welcome platform almost coincided with Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, with whom Obama signed last week a new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction agreement (START) that gave more significance to the NSS.
Press Secretary Crispulo Icban Jr. said President Arroyo had conveyed to both Obama and Medvedev her congratulations for the successful signing of the START agreement. Icban and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo were among the Cabinet members with the President in the US capital.
Source: MB
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