Highlights from the 63rd IAEA General Conference: Department of Technical Cooperation
From 16 to 20 September, the IAEA hosted the 63rd regular session of its annual General Conference, drawing more than 3000 participants from 152 Member States. In addition to organizing exhibitions, multilateral meetings and signing ceremonies, the Department of Technical Cooperation (TC) hosted several side events on the margins of the Conference, drawing attention to the broad variety of activities implemented through the TC programme.At the General Conference Departmental Exhibition, the TC Department presented information about the IAEA technical cooperation programme, its hundreds of projects and its broad portfolio of support activities. A range of material was available to take away, and TC staff were on hand throughout the Conference to answer the questions of attendees.To highlight the work implemented through the AFRA Regional Cooperative Agreement, a week-long exhibition took place at a made-for-purpose exhibition stand. The exhibition showcased new mutant seed varieties developed with IAEA support, footage of capacity building events organized throughout the region, and a new brochure documenting IAEA technical cooperation activities in Africa. A side event, entitled ‘IAEA Support to Environmental Remediation Projects,’ was organized in cooperation with the Department of Nuclear Energy. With the aim of showcasing the Agency’s successful environmental remediation initiatives, experts from all four technical cooperation regions presented case studies of environmental remediation efforts. “Over 55 IAEA technical cooperation projects in waste management, decommissioning and environmental remediation are currently active,” said Dazhu Yang, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation. “Several of these are focused specifically on remediation, with other concentrating on NORM. We provide assistance primarily in the form of capacity building and support for networking.”Following 37 years of successful implementation, and after training more than 1800 students and young professionals, the IAEA gathered Member State delegates, academic experts and national counterparts at another side event to celebrate the 100th edition of the Agency’s Post-Graduate Education Courses (PGECs), and to discuss priorities for the next editions of the PGEC programme. “PGEC supports Member States to cope with the immediate needs of education and training of graduate level staff earmarked for positions in radiation protection. PGEC graduates have gone on to occupy minister-level positions, they have become operators and regulators, and some are even colleagues of ours here at the IAEA,” said DDG Yang in his opening remarks.On the third day of the General Conference, the Department of Technical Cooperation held a roundtable discussion focussing on the role of young professionals and students in raising public awareness about the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. Entitled ‘Youth in Nuclear: Engaging the Next Generation of Leaders,’ the event placed particular emphasis on young nuclear professionals in the African region, where the potential for nuclear technology to contribute to development is immense and where 60% of the population is below the age of 25. Museums, art galleries and libraries have increasingly turned to radiation to treat and preserve deteriorated cultural assets. Reflecting the growing interaction between curators of cultural heritage and radiation experts, a side event on 19 September, ‘Nuclear Techniques for Preserving Cultural Heritage,’ explored how nuclear technologies are being used around the world to characterize and preserve artefacts of cultural importance.Delegates from Brazil, Croatia, France and Indonesia joined Agency staff in recounting the most recent achievements in the use of radiation technology to preserve and protect artefacts of cultural value, including statues, paintings and centuries-old manuscripts. “The long-term preservation of these artefacts can pose a serious challenge to us… As a result, sharing experiences through IAEA regional technical cooperation projects has been quite useful for us,” said Branka Mihaljevic, Head of the Radiation Chemistry and Dosimetry Laboratory in Croatia’s Ruder Boskovic Institute.InTouch+ is a powerful interactive online communication platform for the IAEA technical cooperation community, used to arrange and organize fellowships, scientific visits, training courses and more. Ahead of a major update to the platform, the side event ‘New Edition of InTouch+’ provided the occasion to preview a beta version to more than 50 attending TC counterparts. Over the course of the General Conference, nine Country Programme Frameworks (CPFs) were signed between the Department of Technical Cooperation and Member States. A CPF is the frame of reference for medium-term planning of technical cooperation between a Member State and the IAEA. It identifies the priority areas where nuclear technology can be used to address priority national development goals. Clockwise from top left: CPF signing ceremonies with Afghanistan, Eritrea and Kuwait. Clockwise from top left: CPF signing ceremonies with Mozambique, Pakistan and Romania. Clockwise from top right: CPF signing ceremonies with the Syrian Arab Republic, Sri Lanka and Uganda. Following the signature of two separate but complementary Practical Arrangements (PAs) on 17 September, the IAEA has established a new framework for south-south cooperation wherein Viet Nam will provide both short- and long-term education and training support to Cambodia and Lao PDR through the technical cooperation programme. The State Parties of the regional cooperative agreements in Africa (AFRA), Asia and the Pacific (RCA), and Latin America and the Caribbean (ARCAL), and the cooperative agreement for Arab States in Asia (ARASIA) each met during the Conference to discuss regional technical cooperation. The TC Division for Europe also leveraged the presence of so many Member State delegates to organize a regional meeting of National Liaison Officers (NLOs). Nuclear technology plays a significant role in the timely diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer. Helping countries to tackle the cancer burden remains one of the top priorities for the IAEA and was the focus of this year’s Scientific Forum. Held on the margins of the 63rd General Conference, from 17 to 19 September, the Forum provided the occasion for over 300 experts, counterparts and advocates to review past successes and obstacles facing efforts to deliver nuclear and radiation medicine to fight the growing cancer burden.
