US president gives green light to implement US-Morocco agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy

US President George W. Bush has given the green light to the implementation of the protocol amending the US-Morocco agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The US president said, in a memorandum made public by the White House, that he made this favorable decision after he looked into the standpoints and recommendations of the various agencies concerned. The said agreement that was signed by the two countries in 198O will contribute to promoting "common defense and security," the US president said.

He gave instructions to the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and to the secretary for energy, Abraham Spencer, to make the necessary arrangements to start the procedure for implementing the protocol of agreement.

U.S. peaceful nuclear cooperation with other nations has a long history, dating to President's Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative of the 1950's. Agreements for cooperation are the principal vehicles for U.S. nuclear cooperation with other states, as permitted under the amended 1954 Atomic Energy Act.