Vienna: The State of Qatar stressed the importance of combining national efforts and measures with regional and international measures and adhering to the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety of 2015 in order to confront any transboundary nuclear and radiological incidents.
In a statement delivered by H E Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, permanent representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and international organisations in Vienna, to the session of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held in Vienna, the State of Qatar urged all countries with existing or under-established power reactors to pay greater attention to this subject and apply all safety standards to their facilities and inform member states, in particular geographically neighbouring states and riparian states, of their procedures and allow visits by scientists from states wishing to see the safety of their facilities. Qatar expressed its support for the efforts of IAEA and its Department of Security and Nuclear Safety in supporting the member states to establish a framework for nuclear safety and building national capacities in the field of radiation protection.
Qatar also thanked IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano for organising a training course in Doha last month, whose main objective was to enhance the knowledge, expertise and skills of those working in facilities dealing with radioactive sources. Qatar stressed the importance of implementing these standards at their highest levels, since they can play an effective role only through the collective cooperation of all member states with IAEA in order to provide the highest safety in nuclear installations and in accordance with the guidelines adopted by IAEA in this area in order to achieve effective control over emergencies in a timely manner.
Sheikh Ali stressed that Qatar looks forward to strengthening its cooperation with IAEA in the future, especially as it is ready to implement ambitious programs in different fields of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and development activities. Qatar also expressed support for IAEA’s actions in terms of enhancing nuclear safety activities.
