ISLAMABAD, March 25: Maritime traffic of Pakistan and other countries heading towards the United States will be subjected to inspections by the US authorities after July 1 when a new global anti-terrorism initiative is launched by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

A press release issued by the US embassy here on Thursday said the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code required the member countries of IMO to submit port and ship security plans to their national authorities before a July 2004 deadline.

"Every foreign ship headed for the United States after a July 1 deadline will be boarded and inspected before it can enter a US port," said the press release quoting the US Coastguard commander.

The legalization of inspections of foreign ships through IMO is part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) supported by the US and the United Kingdom to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons and trade in dual use WMD technologies.

"The US would interdict, board and inspect any foreign ship heading towards its shores as part of the new anti-terrorism initiative which requires all member-states of the IMO to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code."

Under the plan, the press release said, US teams would begin visiting foreign ports in July 2004 to assess their implementation of the IMO code. It further said that the US Coastguard was also working with the IMO to develop requirements for technology able to track vessels in a range of 2000 nautical miles.

Designed to prevent terrorist attacks on sea, another international security programme, the container security initiative (CSI), had been well received and broadly accepted in the world, the press release said.

It said under bilateral CSI agreements, US custom officers would be able to target US bound high risk cargo containers in foreign ports for additional inspection by their local counterparts.