The first Global Nuclear Security Summit is scheduled to open on Monday in Washington with the participation of 47 heads of state and government as well as representatives from the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union.

The two-day summit, which is mainly aimed at finding international consensus on how to secure nuclear materials worldwide and keep them out of the hands of terrorist groups, was proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama last April.

On April 5 last year, Obama delivered a speech in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, outlining his ambitious goal of a world without nuclear weapons and calling on the international community to cooperate on the issue. He said the U.S. government would hold a worldwide nuclear security summit within one year.

The world faces a difficult job of safeguarding nuclear materials and avoiding the abuse of nuclear technologies.

Nuclear materials in the world are enough to produce more than 100,000 nuclear bombs. But in many regions, these materials and technologies are not properly safeguarded. It would be disastrous once nuclear materials fall into the hands of terrorists.