Washington wants nations to deny overflight rights to countries or networks suspected of trafficking weapons of mass destruction, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton said Friday.He told a news conference that countries could deny the overflight rights as a way to participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative, a plan launched by the White House in May which aims to end the illegal trade in banned weapons.
As part of the plan, Washington last month reached a deal with Liberia -- the world's second-biggest shipping registry -- allowing US authorities to board the more than 2,000 commercial ships that bear the African nation's flag, in order to search for weapons of mass destruction.
The US administration wants to sign similar accords with the 10 largest flag-states, which account for 70 percent of global maritime trade, and Bolton said reaching agreements with nations to deny overflight rights "is the next logical step".
"The overflight denial approach is obviously important for air interdiction," the top US arms control official added.
Bolton was in Lisbon for a two-day meeting of the 14 countries that make up the core of the Proliferation Security Initiative: Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain and the United States.
Bolton said more than 60 other countries had expressed their support for the plan.
He said participating countries had agreed during their meeting in Portugal to increase intelligence-sharing and boost cooperation among their police forces as part of efforts to curb the flow of illegal weapons.
Bolton said the 14-nation core group would meet again in Poland on May 31.
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