Statement of the Group of 77 and China during the Working Group
Meeting on the Medium-Term Strategy, delivered by H.E. Ambassador Taous Feroukhi,
Permanent Representative of Algeria
Vienna, 9 September 2010
Mr. Chairman,
On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I wish to thank Ambassador Feruta for his continued efforts at leading the discussions of this open-ended working group on the preparation of the Medium-Term Strategy for 2012-2017.
As earlier stated, the Group will submit its detailed comments on the document containing the "Guiding Principles of the new MTS cycle", as well as on the initial draft of the new MTS upon its release. However, the Group reiterates its views contained in its letters of 12 April 2010, 25 May 2010 and12 July 2010, and wishes to highlight the following:
The Group attaches great importance to this exercise of reviewing the progress in implementing the current MTS and preparing the MTS for the next cycle, and has actively participated and articulated its concerns and expectations in the deliberations of the working group. We look forward to receiving the initial draft of the new MTS, with the expectation that it will provide sufficient guidance to the Secretariat in designing programs and undertaking its activities for the subsequent three programme and budget cycles.
The Group maintains that the MTS for the next cycle must be based on the forecasted trends and the expectations of Member States from the Agency, and should draw upon the important lessons learned from the implementation of the current strategy. The Group, however, reiterates that the MTS should be flexible enough to be able to adapt to new developments and the changing needs and priorities of Member States in its implementation.
The Group strongly believes that the new MTS should reflect an appropriate balance between the Agency's promotional and other activities. In view of its statutory objective "to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contributions of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world", the Agency is the only international organization with the technical competence and expertise to fulfill this objective. Considering that the activities under Major Programmes 1, 2 and 6 are of paramount importance in fulfilling this statutory mandate, the Group maintains that the activities under these programs should be accorded adequate financial and political support to enable the Agency to respond to the requests of Member States.
The Group also calls for the new MTS to have an even broader emphasis on the enhancement of the Technical Cooperation Programme in order to reflect its due importance as the main statutory vehicle of the Agency for transferring nuclear technology for socio-economic progress to meet the growing demands of Member States. The Group has expressed its views on the TC Programme before this working group, and requests that they be appropriately reflected in the draft MTS for the next cycle.
The Group considers, in relation to the guiding principles on the improvement of Nuclear Safety and Security, that the term "Global Nuclear Safety and Security regime" is not appropriate and expects that it will be appropriately re-phrased.
Finally, the Group would like to see the new MTS to address the necessary improvements in management, administration and policy-making to ensure the efficient and effective formulation and implementation of the Agency's programs, bearing in mind its statutory objectives and the interests of Member States.
