Sep 18, 201917 September 2019, Vienna, Austria: The United Arab Emirates is taking part in the Annual week-long General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
The UAE delegation, led by His Excellency Hamad Al Kaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to IAEA, includes various national stakeholders in nuclear industry such as the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), and Emirates Nuclear Energy Cooperation (ENEC).
The General Conference is the highest policy-making body of the IAEA. It is composed of representatives of all Member States of the Agency. The General Conference meets annually, typically in September, to consider and approve the Agency's programme and budget and to decide on other matters brought before it by the Board of Governors, the Director General and Member States.
H.E. Al Kaabi will deliver a keynote speech to the Plenary Session of the General Conference that highlights the strong relationship that binds the IAEA and the UAE. He will talk about the status of the UAE Nuclear Energy Programme where the country is building four units simultaneously at Barakah Nuclear Power Plant. The current construction completion rate of the four units of Barakah plant stands at 93% with the first unit completely constructed and its operating license application is under review by FANR.
Meanwhile, senior leadership representing the UAE nuclear industry will host a side-event “ the 10th Anniversary of Establishing the UAE Nuclear Energy Programme” where they will shed light on the status of the UAE Nuclear Energy Programme and the outlook for the next phase highlighting the journey of building the nuclear programme from regulatory and operator perspectives.
In addition, FANR will take part in the Regulatory Cooperation Forum on the margin of the IAEA General Conference to highlight efforts into building national capacity in the nuclear sector and ensuring the sustainability of the nuclear energy programme of the UAE. The Regulatory Cooperation Forum promotes sharing of regulatory knowledge and experience through international cooperation with the goal of achieving a high level of nuclear safety that is consistent with the IAEA safety standards.
The UAE delegation will hold a number of bilateral meetings with a number of international stakeholders to explore cooperation opportunities into the nuclear regulation sector.
Since joining the IAEA in 1976, the UAE has been cooperating with the IAEA based on its national developmental priorities. The cooperation spans across different sectors such as training and capacity building, nuclear energy infrastructure development as well as use of nuclear applications in healthcare, agriculture, environmental monitoring and others.
The UAE’s cooperation with the IAEA is guided by the UAE Vision 2021 which seeks to make the nation among the best countries through various pillars such as social development and economy. The IAEA-UAE accomplishes some of these pillars through achieving a competitive knowledge economy, first-rate education system, world-class healthcare and sustainable development.