Vienna Chapter
Madam Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China wishes to thank the Director-General for
his introductory statement in which he highlighted the main topics of the
agenda, the Group also commends the Secretariat for preparing all relevant
documents.
The Group wishes to seize this opportunity to condemn the terrorist
attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad and wishes to express its
condolences and sympathy to the families and friends of the victims,
particularly Mr. Sérgio Vieira de Mello. We are confident that this
tragic incident will not cause a halt in the UN activities in Iraq.
Madam Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China acknowledges the informative report
submitted by the Director General on the measures undertaken by the Agency
following the 46th General Conference and commends the Secretariat and all
Members States for the efforts deployed to strengthen nuclear, radiation
and transport safety and waste management.
The Group would like to thank the Secretariat for convening the
International Conference on Safety Transport of radioactive material which
was held in Vienna from 7-11 July 2003.
On the safety of transport of radioactive material, the Group
encourages the Agency to continue working closely with other relevant
international transport organizations, advancing the review of the
Transport Regulations currently underway and compiling information for the
database on Events in the Transport of Radioactive Material.
It is a matter of concern for the G-77 and China that although the
safety is an important statutory function of the Agency, which should be
funded from the Regular Budget, developing Member States are being
directed to request TranSAS missions through their national technical
co-operation programmes whilst a shortage of financial resources has also
prevented the Secretariat from offering any training in transport safety
during 2003.
As has been the case concerning other major conferences, the Group
would have appreciated more substantial information on the main findings
and recommendations of the Conference on the Safety of Transport of
Radioctive Material that took place in July 2003, as well as on the
specific time frame and procedure that the Secretariat has envisaged to
develop the respective Draft Action Plan. The Group expects that the plan
will take into account the issues of liability, communications between
governments and emergency preparedness and response to accidents during
such transport.
Madam Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China commends the role of the Secretariat in the
revision of "the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of
Radioactive Sources" contained in document GOV/2003/49-GC(47)/9 and
thanks the Deputy Director General for the Department of Nuclear Safety
for introducing this item.
The Group welcomes various steps taken by the Agency to improve the
Safety of Radioactive Sources, particularly assisting developing Member
Sates in implementing appropriate infrastructure for the safe management
and secure protection of radioactive sources.
The Group takes note of the changes to some of the definitions in the
Code and the modified language concerning the establishment of systems for
mitigating or minimizing the radiological consequences of accidents or
malicious acts involving radioactive sources. The Group agrees that the
Code provides a basis for a significant enhancement of the safety and
security of radioactive sources.
The G-77 and China has carefully studied the document
GOV/2003/49-GC(47)/9 and would like to reiterate its position on the
Safety and Security of Radiation Sources delivered at the Board's meeting
in March and September 2001.
The Group also notes that there are several concerns amongst members
of this Group, and among experts attending the meeting as mentioned by the
Chairman of the open-ended group in its report, regarding the import and
export of the radioactive sources, namely, the ways and means by which the
exporting States are going to assess the degree to which an importing
State has implemented the Code. In this regard, the Group feels that the
Agency should play an important role in assisting the Member States in the
implementation of the code and establish recommendations, guidance, norms
and standards as indicated in the "Draft Action Plan for Safety and
Security on Radioactive Sources" in document GOV/2003/47-GC(47)/7
Annex 1.
Madam Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China believes that this matter needs to be
further explored in order to develop some kind of guidance dealing with
the export and import of the radioactive sources control.
The Group also notes that, the essence of this Code of Conduct is the
Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and feels that it should not
hamper the wide applications of such radioactive sources in medicine,
agriculture, industry and education especially in the developing
countries. The Code should not be used to deny the promotion of peaceful
uses of atomic energy or the export of these sources for use in developing
Member States.
Given the important role of the Agency in providing assistance to the
developing countries in the implementation of this code, as stated in the
Chairman's report of the open-ended group stated in annex 2 of document
GOV/2003/49-GC(47)/9, the Group of 77 and China feels that the technical
co-operation programme could play an important role in such assistance.
The Nuclear Security Fund could also be utilised in this regard.
Madam Chairman,
With these observations the Group takes note of the Revision of the
Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources, which
is non-legally binding in nature and does not create any specific
reporting system.
Thank you Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman,
The Group recognizes that education and training is an essential
pre-requisite to any successful and sustainable radiation protection
programme. Of particular significance to the Group of 77 and China are the
postgraduate educational courses (PGEC's) in radiation protection and the
safety of radioactive sources held in Member states of the Group viz.
Argentina (in Spanish), Malaysia (in English), Morocco (in French) and in
Syrian Arab Republic (in Arabic). In this regard, the Group requests the
Agency to extend longer-term commitments to ensure the running of these
courses in the centers identified.
Madam Chairman,
The Group, cognisant of the important role the Agency's promotional
activities play in raising the socio-economic development levels in
developing countries, commends the Agency for its efforts in implementing
nuclear applications in the use of isotope hydrology for water resource
management, servicing immediate human needs; the preservation of nuclear
knowledge; development of innovative nuclear technologies; the support to
the African Union's Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomes Eradication
Campaign and the production of potable water economically using small and
medium sized nuclear reactors. All these areas are well under the
competence of the Agency and have importance for sustainable development.
The Group further notes that these activities are continuing to have
a positive impact in meeting immediate human needs and raising the
standard of living for developing Member States and encourages the Agency
to continue to intensify its efforts in this regard.
Madam Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China feels that there is a need of further
strengthening these activities with greater participation of the Member
States. The Group attaches much importance to the areas which could
produce a direct and stronger impact on human needs in the developing
countries such as energy, health, agriculture, nutrition and environment.
This would require more efforts and stronger approaches to the projects
related to potable water, improvement of nutrition level, threat reduction
on food and health using SIT, strengthening International Project on
Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) and desalination
programmes, adoption of environmentally clean industrial practices and
sustainability of the human resources in nuclear science and technologies.
In order to fulfil such objectives, the Group of 77 and China would
recommend the increased participation of the national and regional
resource centres of the developing countries and a stronger programme of
training and education.
Madam Chairman,
The Group would like to see increased level of transfer of technology
form the developed countries to the developing countries and a higher
interaction of the scientists among all the Member States. In this regard
the Group would recommend strengthening of CRP mechanism and its greater
synergy with the technical cooperation programme. The Agency would need to
further strengthen its role to promote international cooperation involving
both Government and Non Government entities, if the benefits of
strengthening the Agency's activities related to nuclear science,
technology and applications have to reach the end users in Member States
in an effective and timely manner. The Group of 77 and China would like to
reiterate its full support to the Agency and the Member States in this
regard. Finally the Group would suggest that the reports covering updates
and progress on promotional issues may not remain entirely descriptive in
nature but could also give an assessment of the efforts, value and
importance of the results achieved, significance of impact produced by the
progress of the programme, setbacks or difficulties faced during the
process of implementation and also the recommendations for possible
changes, if any, necessary to improve the outputs. It is hoped that such
an information will further help the Member States and the Agency to work
closely and with a better understanding to strengthen the Agency's
activities for its promotional programmes.
With these views, Madam Chairperson, the Group of 77 and China take
note of the Director General's report and recommends its submission to the
General Conference at its forty-seventh session.
I thank you Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman,
BR>The Group would like to thank the Secretariat for its
continuing efforts to improve the recruitment of women and of staff
members from developing countries and from other Member States, which are
unrepresented or underrepresented in the Agency's Secretariat. We wish to
thank the Director General in particular for his reports on these issues,
in GOV/2003/55/GC(47)/13 and GOV/2003/56-GC(47)/14.
Thank you Madam Chairman.
|
|
|
|
| First
Page
Vienna Chapter |
G-77 Homepage |