Foreign Ministry Undersecretary delivers kingdom's statement at IAEA General Conference

Manama, Sept. 22 (BNA): Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairperson of the National Committee on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction, Dr. Shaikha Rana bint Isa bin Daij Al Khalifa, today delivered virtually the speech of the Kingdom of Bahrain at the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its sixty-fourth session, being held in Vienna from September 21 to 25. Dr. Shaikha Rana extended thanks and appreciation to IAEA and its Director General for their support in facing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and congratulated the sisterly United Arab Emirates for its inauguration of the first nuclear reactor for peaceful energy in the Arab world, wishing the UAE continued progress and success. She stressed the interest of the Kingdom of Bahrain in technical cooperation activities since its accession to the International Atomic Energy Agency, as its technical cooperation programme for the years 2020-2021 aims at strengthening the infrastructure for radiation safety and nuclear security through the development of the legal system and the preparation of specialized inspectors, within the framework of a carefully prepared national project. Dr. Shaikha Rana said the focus was on introducing inductive plasma techniques in environmental analysis in addition to developing the regulatory infrastructure for radiation and nuclear safety and establishing a laboratory to characterize materials using nuclear analysis techniques in the 2022-2023 TCP. She affirmed the Kingdom of Bahrain's keenness to present its national reports on nuclear safety with full regularity, and its active participation in the review processes of the Nuclear Safety Agreement. On the national level, Dr. Shaikha Rana stressed the Kingdom of Bahrain's support for all efforts made by the agency to achieve the CPPNM Agreement, expressing the Kingdom of Bahrain's constant emphasis on the importance of this agreement and its amendments in establishing a global mechanism to ensure the physical protection of materials. She also announced the comprehensive national plan that includes the necessary national procedures and legislation in order to implement the Material Protection Agreement and its amendments, which the Kingdom of Bahrain is working on with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to the vision of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the importance of giving equal opportunities to women and the youth to benefit from the technical cooperation programmes offered by the agency to the states parties. The Kingdom of Bahrain, she added, has been keen, since His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s accession to the throne, to work strategically, institutionally and seriously to strike a gender balance in all scientific, economic, political and developmental fields through the establishment of a national advisory body, the "Supreme Council for Women". In conclusion, Shaikha Rana appreciated the existing cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain with the International Atomic Energy Agency and member states in order to achieve the noble goals for which the agency was established to serve all humanity.