IAEA chief praises Pakistan’s nuclear security

Expresses satisfaction at the implementation of IAEA safeguard measures.

UNITED NATIONS: The head of the global nuclear energy watchdog has hailed Pakistan’s ‘impressive’ nuclear security record.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano met Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in New York on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sunday.

According to an official communiqué, Amano and Chaudhry discussed matters related to mutual cooperation between Islamabad and the UN nuclear watchdog in the peaceful application of nuclear technologies.

“Recalling his visit to Pakistan’s Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Security last year, the IAEA chief praised Pakistan’s impressive nuclear security record over more than four decades of operating nuclear power plants,” the press release said.

It added that the IAEA chief appreciated the excellent cooperation between Pakistan and the nuclear watchdog and expressed satisfaction at the implementation of IAEA safeguards measures by Islamabad. IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme with Pakistan is one of its largest in the world, Amano pointed out.

The IAEA chief also said that the body had an important role to play in the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and that it stood ready to assist Pakistan and other countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The foreign secretary, while thanking Amano for the mutually beneficial cooperation that Pakistan has enjoyed with IAEA as one its founding members since 1957, said Pakistan deeply valued the role played by the nuclear watchdog in the development of peaceful use of nuclear technology. He added that Pakistan attached the highest priority to nuclear safety and security as a national responsibility.

Pakistan’s nuclear power plants and research reactors were under IAEA safeguards and Pakistan was fully meetings its obligations in this regard, the foreign secretary further said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2015.