The UK will make a contribution of £4m to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Nuclear Security Fund for 2011-13, which will support work to enhance global nuclear security.

The UK also published the Global Threat Reduction Programme annual report for 2010 that sets out progress on reducing the threat of proliferation of dangerous nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical materials and expertise.

These projects have played a key role in helping Russia to bring the Shchuch’ye chemical weapon destruction facility into operation, and destroy one third of the 1.9 million chemical weapons stored there.

The ministry of defense is also continuing to implement projects in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, which seek to reduce the risk that biological agents and expertise will be misused for weapons purposes.

During the past year, the department has signed new agreements worth £1m with the US Department of State, the World Health Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health to support projects, which meet shared health and security objectives.