Sri Lanka signs security pact with US to prevent illicit maritime trafficking in nuclear and radioactive material

Sri Lanka has signed a nuclear security pact with the United States to detect and interdict illicit trafficking in special nuclear material and other radioactive material, as part of the efforts to address the growing global security threats.

The Sri Lankan Navy signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the US National Nuclear Security Administration at the Navy headquarters here on Wednesday.

The MoU was signed in the presence of the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung and the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera, according to media reports on Thursday.

''The U.S.-Sri Lanka partnership in addressing global security threats is ever-growing,'' Ambassador Chung posted on X.

The new MOU between the Sri Lanka Navy and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration will ''bolster our joint efforts to prevent illicit maritime trafficking in nuclear and radioactive material,'' she wrote.

The MoU addressed bilateral cooperation to detect and interdict illicit trafficking in special nuclear material and other radioactive material through technical and methodological cooperation, including the installation and improvement of technical systems for the detection and identification of such material at border crossing control points of Sri Lanka, media reports said.

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