"The head of IAEA underlined support to our country's initiative to establish the Nuclear Security Competence Center and officially pledged to provide full support in the creation and development of its operations," reads the press release.
Grybauskaitė met with the IEAE chief during the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea.
Last week, Lithuania's government gave its approval to the initiative of setting up a nuclear security center in Lithuania, which would aim to step up efforts against smuggling of nuclear substances. The center is expected to eventually become a regional bureau.
According to a letter drafted by the Foreign Ministry, the center would be established in the premises of the Border Guard School of the State Border Guard Service to hold training and draft institutional interaction plans.
After the State Border Guard Service signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy, the US is expected to become one of key sources of funding for the Vilnius center. Additional funding is expected from IAEA and the Nordic countries.
According to the press release from the President's Office, the Lithuanian people are, however, highly concerned about the safety of a nuclear power plants that is to be built in the neighboring Kaliningrad region and Belarus as well as about the fact that their construction did not conform to international conventions and standards.
"Lithuania seeks to get the same strict security standards to be applied for all nuclear power plants, both in the neighborhood and around the world, with international organizations performing monitoring and supervision," the president said.
