All eight sessions of the IAEA organized International Conference on Nuclear Security: Global Directions for the Future, to be held in London, 16 – 18 March, 2005, are open for coverage by accredited representatives of the news media.

Speakers at the Conference, which will be held in the Mermaid Conference and Events Centre on the South Bank of the River Thames, in London, include: Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the IAEA; Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, Minister of State, United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Annalisa Gianella, Personal Representative on Weapons of Mass Destruction to Javier Solana, High Representative, European Union; United States Senator Sam Nunn, Co-Chairman, Nuclear Threat Initiative; Ambassador Yukiya Amano, Director General, Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department , Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Linton F. Brooks, Undersecretary of Energy and Administrator, US National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Conference is hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom and is organized in cooperation with the European Commission (EC), the European Police Office (Europol), the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO-Interpol), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The first day of the conference will review the achievements and shortcomings of international efforts to strengthen nuclear security; day two will explore how the international nuclear security regime is adapting to new measures - and the IAEA role in underpinning them; the focus of the final day is upon how the international community can reach a common understanding to better respond to the global threat of nuclear terror, detect and prevent it.

The Conference opens at 10.00 on March 16, to be followed by a press conference, the time to be announced.

Accreditation:
Journalists can sign up for accreditation at the Mermaid Conference and Events Centre, between 17.00 and 19.00, March 15. On-line conference site: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=136.