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Dear Madam Chairperson,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the States parties to the Treaty on the Union between Belarus and Russia. Our delegations take note of the report by IAEA Director General “Nuclear and Radiation Safety” presented to the Board of Governors, which was prepared pursuant to the relevant resolution of the 62nd session of the IAEA General Conference. We note with satisfaction that the content of the report adequately meets the provisions contained in this resolution. We are convinced that the consensus resolutions of the General Conference have been and should remain the main guiding document in determining the directions and parameters of the Agency's programmatic activities in the field of nuclear and radiation safety.

We reaffirm our continued support for the relevant IAEA programs. We firmly believe that the Member States of the Agency have the primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear safety. The role of the IAEA is to provide them with timely support, primarily technical and expert, as well as to provide a platform for the exchange of professional experience.

The global demand for IAEA services and expertise is growing steadily. This means that nuclear safety will continue to remain in the focus of attention, and the confidence of the international community in peaceful uses of nuclear energy will largely depend on the quality of the Agency’s work. Belarus and Russia consider it extremely important to preserve the international consensus on nuclear safety, which serves as a guarantee that the goals in the field of peaceful uses set by the Member States will be achieved.

We note the continued active work of the IAEA in the area of nuclear safety. We believe that strengthening and universalization of relevant international legal instruments should remain at the forefront of the Agency’s work. We consider maintaining the integrity of the relevant conventions as one of the main tasks in this regard. The erosion of their original aims through expanded interpretation or switching their mechanisms towards unusual tasks is counterproductive and even unacceptable.

Another systematic area of the Agency’s work should remain the development and improvement of IAEA Safety Standards and relevant technical documents. We are convinced that standards and technical documents developed by the Agency should serve as a reliable support for the expansion of horizons of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. At the same time, we would like to emphasize that the development of Safety Standards should be systematic, technically sound and non-politicized in nature, and new requirements and recommendations should be developed on the basis of accumulated experience, practical feasibility and expert conclusions, but not fall under the influence of media rhetoric.

We note the expansion of the available number of Peer Review and Advisory Services. We strongly believe that relevant IAEA missions are exclusively voluntary. We note the Agency’s consistent efforts to update their terms of reference and functional modules. We urge the Secretariat to ensure maximum transparency in this matter and to carefully take into consideration the views of Member States.

Belarus and Russia welcome the Agency’s assistance to the interested Member States in building and ensuring of reliable nuclear safety infrastructure as part of the national infrastructure of peaceful uses in the majority of states. We note with satisfaction that the Agency manages to build fruitful cooperation with Member States aimed at disseminating advanced international expertise, developing an adequate regulatory framework and training personnel in the field of nuclear safety. Efforts in this direction should be continued.

Belarus and Russia are closely monitoring how the IAEA's activities in the field of emergency preparedness and response are gaining momentum. We are convinced that it is important to avoid arbitrary interpretation of the Agency’s mandate, as well as blurring the boundaries between legal obligations arising from relevant “emergency” conventions and various kinds of voluntary mechanisms.

Dear Madam Chairperson,

Belarus and Russia highly value the Secretariat’s desire to be transparent with regard to its current activities and future plans in the field of nuclear safety, while leaving the decision up to the Member States. We hope that  nuclear safety will continue to be a unifying matter in the Agency, and the work will be based on understanding of the common interests of all Member States with regard to the sustainable, comprehensive and safe development of nuclear energy.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson.