Good plan, action needed

Good plan, action needed At the two-day Washington summit Edge cardthe United States and 46 other countries agreed on a voluntary "action plan" to secure all vulnerable nuclear material over the next four years.

But the final communique glossed over disagreements on divisive issues like whether to continue making weapons-grade uranium and plutonium and came up with no binding commitments.

Obama called it "a testament of what is possible when nations come together in a spirit of partnership to embrace our shared responsibility and confront a shared challenge."

Analysts said it was significant that the world's oldest nuclear powers the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China sat at a table with India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed nations, and Israel, which is presumed to have nuclear weapons but neither confirms nor denies it.

The three are outside the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at stopping the spread of atomic weapons.

Kenneth Luongo, head of U.S.-based Partnership for Global Security said it was important that developed and developing powers had come together and agreed "there's a problem with nuclear security and are prepared to deal with it."

He said the communique and action plan were vague and weakened by qualifying phrases and noted its implementation was voluntary.

"But the fact that this discussion is happening at the highest levels for the first time is very significant and should not be discounted," Luongo said.

Now the real work on improving nuclear security couldEdge card begin. "Once the lights go down tonight, leaders need to hit the ground running on implementation," Luongo said.