The State of Qatar on Tuesday appreciated the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) efforts to support member states to establish nuclear safety frameworks and build national capacities in the field of radiation protection.

This came in the State of Qatar’s statement delivered by HE Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IAEA’s Governor from the State of Qatar Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi at the opening of the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna.

HE Dr. Al Hammadi hailed IAEA’s central role in orchestrating international efforts, developing safety standards, and helping member states implement them upon their request, through various advisory fields, with the aim of strengthening their regulatory functions and national infrastructure, and building competencies in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, transportation and waste as well as in the areas of emergency preparedness and response.

His Excellency touched on the State of Qatar’s first participation in the Joint Eighth and Ninth Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) 2023, to which it has become a party. Qatar submitted its first report to the Meeting that included an overview of the State of Qatar’s nuclear activities and its peaceful purposes, history of the State of Qatar’s relationship with IAEA and its contribution to improving the radiation and nuclear safety infrastructure, and a summary on modernizing the radiation and nuclear safety infrastructure in the State of Qatar in cooperation with IAEA through Integrated Regulatory Review Services (IRRS), including the national policy and strategy for safety, government responsibilities for safety, regulatory infrastructure, emergency preparedness and response.

In its statement, the State of Qatar urged all countries with nuclear facilities, especially in the Middle East, to expedite joining international agreements on nuclear safety, in a bid to increase reassurance of the integrity of operating systems in their reactors, and applying international nuclear safety procedures, given the long-term, transnational impact of nuclear accidents on humans and the environment, especially water resources.

The State of Qatar’s delegation to the IAEA Board of Governors Meeting in Sep. 2023 is chaired by HE Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IAEA’s Governor from the State of Qatar Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi; HE Director of International Organizations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ali bin Khalfan Al Mansouri and HE Charge d’Affaires of the State of Qatar to the UN and international organizations in Vienna Jamal bin Abdul Rahman Al Jaber.

Source: Qatar News Agency