Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi has “highly praised” Bangladesh’s “sustained progress” in the development of nuclear science, technology and applications.
He also reiterated IAEA’s strong commitment to continue to support Bangladesh to take the country’s strength and capacity to a new height in this area.
The director general was accepting the credentials of Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to UN Agencies and other International Organizations in Vienna Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith on August 28 at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
The foreign ministry said Mariano Grossi appreciated Bangladesh’s achievements in exceeding the IAEA’s expectations regarding the compliance with the nuclear safety, security and safeguard issues.
The Director General categorically mentioned that IAEA considers Bangladesh as a special country, which the Agency is associated with the implementation of the country’s nuclear energy programme, among others.
The IAEA chief sought strong political support from the government of Bangladesh in its endeavours to implement its mandates.
Ambassador Muhith thanked the Director General for accepting his credentials and appreciated the leadership of the DG in taking IAEA onto a higher trajectory in terms of accomplishments in the areas of, inter alia, safety and security, science and technology and safeguard and verification, which the Agency and the member countries attaches utmost importance to.
While updating the Director General of the impressive progress of implementation of Bangladesh’s first Nuclear Power Plant in Rooppur, the Ambassador deeply appreciated the ongoing existing excellent cooperation between Bangladesh and the IAEA, which resulted in undertaking a series of technical cooperation projects in the areas of energy, health, food security & safety, environment contributing to the development of Bangladesh including the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before 2030.
He requested for extending the purview of the cooperation in the field of Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as a technique to contain the Aedes mosquitoes responsible for spreading dengue fever.
Ambassador Muhith also thanked the Agency and the Director General for providing instantaneous support of the RT-PCR machine, diagnostic kit and safety equipment for capacity building to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
He reiterated his request to continue to put emphasis on the technical cooperation projects already included in the Country Program Framework, which has a greater catalytic impact on the economic development of Bangladesh.
The Ambassador reiterated Bangladesh's support for multilateralism in general and IAEA in particular and expressed hope that IAEA will be able to contribute in finding innovative ideas and solutions for mankind to progress and prosper in the COVID-19 induced ‘new normal’.
