Vienna - Information Office - December 02

The State of Qatar has participated in the meetings of the 63rd International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference, currently held in Vienna.

HE the State of Qatar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri headed the Qatari delegation.

In a statement to the session, His Excellency affirmed Qatar's unwavering appreciation and support to the IAEA for its outstanding and growing role in harnessing safe and modern nuclear technologies in all peaceful fields to serve humanity by providing a better environment in the fields of energy, treatment, disease control and the provision of food and water.

HE Al Mansouri commended IAEA's keenness to benefit from the peaceful applications of nuclear energy under nuclear safety and security systems and to help developing countries to benefit from such energy thus contribute to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Al Mansouri voiced the State of Qatar's aspiration to expand cooperation and partnership with the IAEA in various technical projects, especially after the State of Qatar issued Law No. (3) of 2018 on the national system for the inventory and control of nuclear materials, which is currently applied in order to prepare the executive decision on the law.

In his statement, His Excellency highlighted the concern of many countries in the Middle East about the safety and security of reactors within the region, and the fear of any possible effects of these reactors resulting from natural disasters, human errors or terrorist acts.

In this regard, he stressed the importance of the commitment of the States that establish nuclear facilities on their territories to applying the highest standards of nuclear safety in accordance with the Agency's plan of action in this regard; taking measures to develop contingency plans for any possible nuclear accident to ensure; implementing preventive measures for workers in the facility and the civilian population and preserving the environment.

He underlined the responsibility of the countries operating nuclear reactors under international conventions to cooperate and consult with countries in the vicinity of the nuclear facility to the extent that they are likely to be affected by the facility and to provide them with the necessary information to assess the potential impacts.

The Head of the Qatari delegation reviewed the efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East and voiced the State of Qatar's regret that these efforts have been hampered by the lack of political will of the international community to implement the 1995 resolution on the establishment of the zone.

The failure to implement that resolution, which represents a commitment on the part of all States parties to the Treaty, especially the three depositary States that have adopted the resolution, has eroded the credibility of the Treaty and even the entire non-proliferation regime, he said.

He went on saying that the international community today, in the light of regional and international tensions, urgently needs to reactivate the implementation of this resolution and to establish the Middle East as a necessary step towards achieving the universality of the comprehensive safeguards system.

He stressed that the State of Qatar believes that the establishment of this zone represents a comprehensive regional approach to address the problem of nuclear proliferation because the manner of dealing with each country has proved to be selective and discriminatory in dealing from one country to another and cause imbalances in the regional powers.

Concluding his statement, the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar stressed the State of Qatar's readiness to fully cooperate with the Agency in view of the importance of its role in the international peace and security system.