Opening of the 41st regular session of the IAEA General Conference

At the opening of the 41st regular session of the IAEA General Conference, high-level governmental delegates, including 28 Ministers from106 Member States officially commemorated the Agency's forty years of international service and paid tribute to the leadership of Director General Hans Blix, who is retiring in December. The Conference at the Austria Center in Vienna is scheduled to conclude on 3 October.

The opening session included a message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan. Also addressing the Conference today are Dr. Blix, who has served as IAEA Director General since 1981, and his successor Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, whose term of office is set to begin 1 December 1997. (Separate press releases will be issued on these statements.)

Delegate elected as President of the Conference, Mr. Jerzy Niewodniczanski, President of the National Atomic Energy Agency, Poland. They also elected Mr. Richard J.K. Stratford, Director, Office of Nuclear Energy Affairs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Department of State as Chairperson of the Committee of the Whole.

Among items on the Conference's provisional agenda, delegates will be asked to approve the Agency's 1998 regular budget, which calls for total expenditures of US $221.4 million, and to accept and make pledges toward the target amount of US $71.5 million for contributions to the 1998 Technical Cooperation Fund.

Other items of discussion include: measures to strengthen international cooperation in nuclear, radiation and waste safety; strengthening of the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system; strengthening the Agency's technical cooperation activities; measures against illicit trafficking in nuclear materials and other radioactive sources; the implementation of safeguards in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions in Iraq; and the application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East.

In conjunction with the Conference, a Scientific Programme has been organized on three topical issues: nuclear energy and the environment; turning some military nuclear technology to peaceful uses; and strengthening nuclear verification, from concept to implementation. Additionally, a traditional meeting of senior regulators in the field of nuclear safety will be held this week, as well as technical cooperation meetings of participants in regional arrangements for Africa, Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific.