Ambassador Debora Lepre, Permanent Representative of Italy to the International Organisations in Vienna, took the floor on the main items on the agenda of the second annual regular session of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that was held last week in Vienna.
The discussions of the Board, of which Italy is a member, focused on the situation in Ukraine, Iran, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and, more generally, on the fundamental role played by the Agency to guarantee nuclear non-proliferation, by means of indepentent safeguards monitoring to verify that nuclear materials and activities are exclusively used for peaceful purposes. The Board adopted a Resolution on Iran to take note of Tehran’s continued failure to uphold its safeguards obligations.
In her statements, Amb. Lepre expressed Italy’s full support to the IAEA’s commitment, as part of the international efforts to uphold the effectiveness of the non-proliferation architercture in crucial areas for regional and global security.
Amb. Lepre also reaffirmed Italy’ constant and concrete support for the Agency’s flagship initiatives and technical cooperation activities, especially in key fields such as human health and food safety and security, implemented also through innovative public-private partnerships in the technical, scientific and academic sectors, as well as through the expansion of the Italian network of IAEA Collaborating Centres.
At the closing of the session the Board tackled the emergency, in terms of nuclear safety and security, resulting from Israel’s military operations in Iran. This lead to a special Board session being convened on Monday 16 June.
(Photo credits: IAEA)
