Afghanistan Statement in IAEA General Conference by Dr.Tahir Shaaran
Madam President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the people and government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, I express my deepest condolences to Director-General Yukiya Amano’s family, friends and all staff members of the IAEA and the people and government of Japan.
Afghanistan is grateful to IAEA, under the Director General Amano’s leadership, for its significant support to the country. Without doubt, Mr Amano was a great advocator for security, nuclear non-proliferation regime and peaceful use of nuclear technologies to achieve a more peaceful world. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
Madam President,
Let me begin by congratulating your Excellency, on your election as the president of this year’s General Conference. We are confident that under your leadership this conference will be very successful and productive. From the beginning of the conference, the Afghanistan delegation has fully supported your leadership and will continue throughout the meeting.
Furthermore, let me congratulate the hard work of the Acting Director-General on his outstanding leadership for running IAEA at this sensitive time. Furthermore, my appreciation goes to the highly professional and dedicated team of the Agency’s Secretariat for the efforts undertaken to prepare for this important conference.
Since its establishment in 1957, the IAEA has played a very important role in promoting peace, security, development and prosperity across the world through the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology.
As we are all aware, nuclear science and technology can help countries reduce poverty and hunger, manage water resources, generate electricity, treat diseases such as cancer and respond to climate change. However, these objectives can only be achieved if nuclear safety measures and nuclear security measures are taken into serious account by all member states. In particular, today where the world is drifting towards increased insecurity and violence, the Agency is facing a tremendously challenging situation in fully monitoring and controlling the use of nuclear energy to make sure that it is not used in a wrong way.
I believe that a worldwide agreement, global consensus and effective cooperation of member states with the Agency is essential in overcoming the problem of safe and secure use of nuclear energy for global sustainable development.
Being a state party to the Comprehensive Safeguard Agreement and the NPT, Afghanistan strongly supports the establishment of a Nuclear- Weapons-Free-Zone in the Middle East, as a positive and complementary step towards achieving the United Nations’ Nuclear-Weapons-Free-World objectives.
Madam President,
Although Afghanistan was among the first founding members of IAEA in 1957, due to war and conflict in the country, there has not been any cooperation between Afghanistan and IAEA for almost 3 decades. However, over the past few years, Afghanistan has managed to re-establish its interaction with IAEA and benefit from the Agency’s Technical Cooperation Program in different priority areas.
This program has provided an excellent cooperation framework in areas such as human health, agriculture, human resources development in nuclear physics, as well as the establishment of a national regulatory authority.
Today we are happy to announce that a new Country Program Framework for the period of 2019-2023 for Afghanistan has been signed at the margins of the IAEA General Conference. This Framework was prepared and completed by the joint efforts of the Agency Technical Cooperation Department and the Afghanistan Atomic Energy High Commission.
This signed Framework will contribute directly and cost-effectively to national priorities and goals in line with the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework.
The Framework will serve as a key instrument for strengthening technical cooperation between the Government of Afghanistan and the Secretariat. It provides an excellent cooperation framework in four mutually agreed areas, namely:
- Radiation Safety Infrastructure
- Food and Agriculture
- Human Health and Nutrition
- Human Capital Development
With the assistance of IAEA, the Afghanistan Atomic Energy High Commission, the main implementing partner in Afghanistan, along with other relevant agencies in the country, will be fully committed to implementing cooperation in the four national priority areas.
Madam President,
Afghanistan’s Nuclear Energy Act, which was supported by the Agency and drafted by the Afghanistan Atomic Energy High Commission, was approved by Afghan parliament in 2017. As a result, the Afghanistan National Nuclear Regulatory Authority has been established for protecting public health and safety-related to the use of nuclear science and technology. Our Regulatory body has made a great effort to implement Afghanistan’s Nuclear Energy Act, especially in the area of issuing license for nuclear activity, monitoring facilities that use ionization radiation such as hospitals and ports, and drafting relevant regulations.
As a result of their efforts, at the beginning of this year, our radiation protection regulation has been approved by Cabinet and has been signed by the President of Afghanistan. Furthermore, the first annual national report on radiation facilities across the country has been recently published.
In the area of health, the establishment of a Radiology Diagnostic Center, and Radiotherapy center are projects with high importance and relevance in the country. However, despite all good wills, up to now, there has not been any notable progress in this area. Afghanistan still does not have any nuclear medicine center in the country and every year thousands of people travel abroad for cancer treatment. We hope that with the support of Agency, it's member states, and the effective collaboration of all stakeholders in Afghanistan, we can soon overcome this problem and establish our first center at Aliabad hospital.
Madam President,
The current security situation in Afghanistan is such that some areas of the country are controlled by insurgent groups and national and international terrorist groups are active across the country. As a result, we have a serious concern about the illegal transportation of nuclear materials through Afghanistan by these groups.
In light of this, we believe that such illegal activities will make the current situation more complex and may put the lives of thousands of people in danger. Thus we sincerely request IAEA members to pay careful attention to this matter.
Madam President,
In conclusion, Afghanistan is grateful to IAEA for its significant support to the country, for providing training and workshops for our scientists, and supporting our national projects. We kindly request from IAEA members, in particular, the regional members, to pay special attention to Afghanistan and to continue supporting us in areas of capacity building and training our scientists.
In my view, the effective utilization of nuclear science and technology in medical, agricultural, industrial, energy and other peaceful areas will only be achieved through transparency, honesty and strong cooperation amongst IAEA members.
Let us all help the Agency in promoting peace and sustainable development for all nations worldwide through our regional and international cooperation.
