INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY GENERAL CONFERENCE BEGINS ANNUAL SESSION

Press Release
IAEA/1334

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY GENERAL CONFERENCE BEGINS ANNUAL SESSION

VIENNA, 28 September (IAEA) -- Ministers and high-level governmental representatives from 111 Member States of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including 19 Ministers, are meeting in Vienna this week for the forty-third regular session of the General Conference. The Conference opened today, 27 September, and is scheduled to last through 1 October at the Austria Center Vienna.

The opening session included a message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

The Conference's general debate began with statements by Ministers from: Finland, Erkki Tuomioja; Slovakia, Pavol Hamzik; Japan, Yamato Inaba; the Republic of Korea, Jung Uck Seo; and Morocco, Abderrahim Benmoussa.

Delegates elected as President of the conference, Dr. Abderrahmane Kadri, Chairman of the Algerian Atomic Energy Commission. They also elected Abderrahim Benmoussa, Resident Representative of Morocco to the IAEA, as Chairperson of the Committee of the Whole.

Among items on the Conference's provisional agenda, delegates will be asked to approve the Agency's 2000 regular budget, which calls for total programme expenditures of $226.3 million at an exchange rate of 12.70 Austrian Schillings per dollar. Additionally, the Conference will be asked to approve a target of $73 million for voluntary contributions towards the Agency's technical cooperation fund for 2000.

Throughout the week, delegates will be considering a range of topics on the peaceful development of nuclear technologies. They include those related to further strengthening the IAEA's programmes in areas of nuclear, radiation and waste safety; technical cooperation; and the safeguards system. Other items on the provisional agenda include measures against illicit trafficking in nuclear materials and other radioactive sources; implementation of the safeguards agreement with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; and implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq.

- 2 - Press Release IAEA/1334 28 September 1999

More information about the General Conference, including documents and background reports, is available over the IAEA's WorldAtom Internet Services at .

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