IAEA Director General meets with press in Vietnam

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano and leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology held a press conference during Mr. Amano's second visit to Vietnam from January 7-11, 2014, at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh.

Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh received Mr. Yukia Amano, who is on a working visit to Vietnam.

On January 9th, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Director General Yukiya Amano and Mr. Le Dinh Tien, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, introduced the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in promoting the application, ensuring safety, security, and non-proliferation of nuclear energy; measures to ensure safety and security and trends in nuclear power development worldwide after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011; and the potential for support from the IAEA to countries just beginning to develop nuclear power, including Vietnam.

As of November 2013, the International Atomic Energy Agency had 160 member states.

Vietnam joined this organization in 1978. To date, cooperative relations between the two sides have seen positive developments.

Director General Yukiya Amano highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts in participating in and implementing international treaties on nuclear safety, security, and non-proliferation, as well as Vietnam's careful preparations for the nuclear power project.

Earlier, during a meeting with the Ministry of Science and Technology, Minister Nguyen Quan and General Director Yukiya Amano discussed the results of cooperation between the two sides in the past period, as well as the direction of cooperation in the coming years.

Minister Nguyen Quan expressed his hope that in the future, Vietnam will continue to receive cooperation and support from the International Atomic Energy Agency in developing legal documents, training human resources, and building and implementing plans for the development of nuclear power infrastructure.

Particularly in the areas of nuclear safety, security, and incident response; building capacity for independent nuclear regulatory agencies to meet the requirements of ensuring safety and security for nuclear power development.

Vietnam currently holds the chairmanship of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency for the 2013-2014 term. Vietnam's consistent policy is to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes, ensuring safety, security, and nuclear non-proliferation. Vietnam considers this not only a national responsibility but also an obligation to the international community.

In fulfilling this commitment, Vietnam has participated in most international treaties and conventions on nuclear safety, security, and non-proliferation. In the last two years, Vietnam has ratified the Additional Protocol on Safeguards; the Convention on the Protection of Nuclear Material; the General Convention on the Safe Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel; and completed the program to convert high-enriched nuclear fuel to low-enriched fuel at the Da Lat nuclear research reactor.

In particular, Vietnam has actively participated in the activities of the Nuclear Security Summit in 2010 in the US, 2012 in South Korea, and the upcoming one in the Netherlands in 2014.

This is the second visit to Vietnam by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano. The visit aims to discuss measures to promote cooperation between the two sides in the field of atomic energy development and applications in general, and Vietnam's nuclear power program in particular, as well as to assess the results and impacts of projects supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vietnam.

According to VNA