ARCAL, an agreement to increase regional collaboration and make nuclear science technology more accessible for health care, food and agriculture and industrial growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, is celebrating 40 years of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Since its establishment in 1984, the Regional Agreement for the Promotion of Nuclear Science in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARCAL, for its acronym in Spanish) has resulted in the implementation of nearly 200 IAEA regional technical cooperation projects, training over 35,000 professionals from across the region in various aspects of nuclear science and technology through approximately 1,500 courses, meetings and workshops.
The regional agreement has also played an important role in promoting gender equality within the sector, setting up the first Regional School for Leadership in the Nuclear Field for young woman professionals.
“ARCAL has been a key platform to support cooperation between countries,” said its current chair, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Chile to the IAEA Álex Wetzig, at an event to mark the 40-year milestone during the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology and the Technical Cooperation Programme.
Activities under the agreement have “proven themselves not only for their effectiveness but also for their impact,” Wetzig said, urging ARCAL countries to continue to “rely on science and cooperation as tools for progress.”