Prime Minister John Key today congratulated the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust on the funding of its 100th project since the charity was established in February last year.

The Linfield Cultural Recreational Sports Club has been funded $388,980 to provide sports programmes in Christchurch’s eastern suburbs - almost doubling the number of KiwiSport programmes offered to children in the area.

“The east of Christchurch has been one of the hardest-hit areas in the aftermath of last February’s quake,” says Mr Key. “Over a year on, people are still persevering to get their lives back to normal. The funding for the 100th project means thousands of local children can keep active in their lunchtimes, after school and in the holidays, following many months of disruption.”

Almost $140,000 of the grant will be used to extend the KiwiSport programme to four additional schools in Christchurch’s east, meaning over 2500 children in 15 schools will benefit.

“This project is a great example of the Trust building on a successful service to fill a need in the community,” says Mr Key.“KiwiSport has an important part to play as Christchurch rebuilds its community infrastructure, and it’s encouraging to see so many children taking up the opportunity.”

The remainder of the funding enables the Linfield Cultural Recreational Sports Club to continue supporting and providing services to its associated clubs, which deliver sports such as rugby, football, softball, squash and netball, and a community gym to families living in the eastern suburbs.

The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal was launched by Mr Key, and is the Government’s official, global fundraiser for the recovery effort for Christchurch and the Canterbury region.

The Trust has committed funds of around $42 million to a variety of projects, including the Re:Start container mall in Cashel Street, the new Christchurch Stadium and the Court Theatre. Almost $60 million remains to be allocated, with the Trust intending to disburse the majority during 2012.

For more information or to donate, go to http://christchurchappealtrust.org.nz

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Prime Minister John Key today described the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul as another important step towards securing nuclear materials and reducing the global threat of nuclear terrorism.

At the Summit, which concluded today, Mr Key also announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$500,000 towards a US-led project to remove highly-enriched uranium from Uzbekistan back to Russia to be reprocessed and securely stored.

“This project reinforces our support for the securing of vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide,” Mr Key says.

New Zealand has a solid history of supporting nuclear security work around the world, including in the former Soviet Union and in South-East Asia. Since 2004, it has committed around $6 million towards G8 Global Partnership projects aimed at securing nuclear materials.

Mr Key says New Zealand has a strong and principled voice on nuclear issues so it has an important role to play in the process.

“We are a small country but we can make a difference on this global issue. My statement to the Summit today reinforced that, even as a small country, we are not immune to the risks posed by nuclear terrorism. I urged my counterparts to take seriously the commitments we made at the last Summit in Washington in 2010 and to push further to ensure nuclear materials don't fall into the wrong hands,” he says.

The 53 states represented at the Summit have issued a communiqué that will guide their collective work until the third Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands in 2014.

Mr Key also held bilateral meetings with several leaders at the Summit today, including the Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Thailand Prime Minister Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.