Hanoi (VNA) ౠ–Vietnamese officials affirmed the country’s consistent efforts to guaranteenuclear safety and security and to apply atomic energy in service of sustainabledevelopment during a recent meeting with representatives of the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The meeting took place on thesidelines of the IAEA Board of Governors’ regular meeting held in Vienna on June 6 - 10, according to the Chemicals Arm underVietnam’s Ministry of National Defence. The Vietnamese officials,including Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien, Governor - Permanent Representative ofVietnam to the IAEA, and Col. Nguyen Dinh Hien, Deputy Commander and Chief of theStaff of the Chemicals Arm, appreciated the IAEA’s assistance to its member states, including Vietnam, to apply nuclear technology to responding toglobal issues and serving sustainable development, especially in the COVID-19combat. They stressed the need forpromoting personnel training as well as bilateral and multilateral cooperationin dealing with radiation and nuclear incidents. Vietnam expressed itsattention to the application of nuclear energy and technology to such areas ashealth care, biology, agriculture, industry, and environment so as to boostsocio-economic development and improve people’s living standards. It noted that developingnuclear energy will help ensure energy security, particularly amid soaringfossil fuel prices, and realise the international agreements on climate changeresponse and environmental protection to which Vietnam is a party. The Vietnamese side proposedthe IAEA continue helping the country perfect the relevant legal framework anddevelop nuclear technology to achieve sustainable development, build responseplans for nuclear incidents, and train high-quality manpower in this field. They also called on theagency to step up discussion of the amendment and supplementation ofstandards for nuclear security, safety, and incident response as nucleartechnology is developing strongly at present. For their part, IAEAofficials, including Deputy Director General Lydie Evrard, said the agency willalways support Vietnam to apply nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The cooperation with Vietnamin some areas like agriculture and pandemic response has proved successful andis a model for the IAEA’s partnerships with other member countries, they went on. The IAEA said it will sendVietnam’s proposals to its relevant units for consideration, adding that itwill organise more cooperation activities to help its members, includingVietnam, improve their readiness for and response to radiation and nuclearincidents in the time ahead, when the COVID-19 pandemic is basically broughtunder control./.