CCDS board members Tamara Pataraia and Shorena Lortkipanidze took part in the U.S.-Black Sea Nonproliferation Exchange Initiative U.S. Module on 3-15 September 2022. This initiative is implemented by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and supported by the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau of the U.S. State Department. The U.S. – Black Sea Nonproliferation Exchange Initiative serves as a channel for deeper coordination and support between nonproliferation professionals in the U.S. and Black Sea, including scholars/researchers and diplomats/practitioners.

A 12-day programme of the initiative consisted of three segments: Part one - visits to the U.S. national laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory (Cooperative Monitoring Center); Part two – visit to Washington DC, meetings with the experts of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a cultural programme of the capital and also meeting with Washington –based NGOs think tanks, such as Nuclear Threat Initiative, Stimson Center, Arms Control Association, Carnegie Endowment, National Academy of Sciences.

Intensive programme was closed with a round-table discussion involving experts of the Center for Nonproliferation studies, as well as the participants of U.S. – Black Sea Nonproliferation Exchange initiative. The discussion was followed by a tour of the US Capitol.         

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