DHAKA: Thirty-five countries on Tuesday committed to bolstering nuclear security, backing a global drive spearheaded by US president Barack Obama to prevent dangerous materials falling into the hands of terrorists.

In a joint statement issued on the sidelines of the third biennial Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), the countries pledged to work closer together and submit to ‘peer reviews periodically’ of their sensitive nuclear security regimes.

The nations,- including Israel, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Turkey but not Russia, vowed to ‘realise or exceed’ the standards set out in a series of guidelines laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to safeguard nuclear materials.

These are the ‘closest things we have to international standards for nuclear security’, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters as he presented the pledge, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1852 HRS, MAR 25, 2014