Ambassador reaffirms Vietnam’s support for nuclear non-proliferation
Vienna (VNA) – Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien, Governor
- Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), has affirmed Vietnam's consistent policy of supporting the non-proliferation of the nuclear weapons, moving towards the complete and thorough nuclear disarmament.
Speaking at
the regular meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors that opened in Vienna on June 5, Ambassador Kien highlighted the need to balance the three
pillars of the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), thereby elevating the rights of
countries to use nuclear energy and technology for peaceful purposes in
accordance with international law and NPT obligations.
Underlining
Vietnam’s efforts and achievements in nuclear safeguards, he affirmed that the country always supports IAEA’s role and values technical cooperation programmes,
particularly ongoing ones between Vietnam and the IAEA such as the ZODIAC
programme and the trilateral project among Vietnam, Laos/Cambodia, and the
IAEA. He also suggested the IAEA continue enhancing support for and technical
cooperation with Vietnam in this field.
The meeting will take place over the course of one
week and focus on reviewing and discussing IAEA's annual, technical cooperation
and nuclear safeguard reports, with the aim of reaching consensus on and
submitting them to the 67th IAEA General Conference in September.
Other topics
of interest will also be tabled for discussions, such as the implementation of nuclear
safeguards agreements between IAEA and Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea, and Syria, and emerging security and safety issues at nuclear power
plants in Ukraine, and the trilateral security pact between the US, UK and
Australia on the hand-over of nuclear-powered submarines (AUKUS).
Vietnam was
elected as a member of the IAEA Board of Governors in September 2021 for the 2021-2023
term. The agency currently consists of 35 members, namely Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Namibia, South
Africa, Japan, Russia, Pakistan, Finland, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, China, Australia, Uruguay, and
Vietnam. The IAEA Board of Governors holds four sessions each year in March,
June, September, and November, with the annual IAEA General Conference in September./.