Obama welcomes world leaders to nuclear security summit

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon welcomed leaders of 46 countries who are gathering in Washington for an "unprecedented" nuclear security summit, held in a bid to ensure global nuclear security and prevent nuclear weapons and nuclear materials from being obtained by terrorists.

The two-day summit will focus on the security of nuclear materials, particularly on preventing terrorists from getting the materials through effective international cooperation, leaving other broad topics such as non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful nuclear energy to different forums, according to the White House.

At a press briefing on Friday, senior administration official Ben Rhodes told reporters that the summit is "unprecedented given the fact that nuclear security has not been addressed by this many nations at this level before."

According to Rhodes, the summit, which is attended by leaders of 47 countries and three major international organizations, is the "largest gathering of countries" hosted by a U.S. president " dedicated to a specific issue" since the 1946 UN conference in San Francisco.

The participating countries include Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine and Vietnam.

The United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) and the European Union will also be represented.

In an interview with ABC News broadcast on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the summit is aimed at getting "the world's attention focused on continuing efforts by al-Qaeda and others to get just enough nuclear material to cause terrible havoc, destruction, and loss of life somewhere in the world."