Statement by Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano at the IAEA Tecnical Assistance and Cooperation Committee

Statement by Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano
at the Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee Meeting

starting on 17 November 2014 Item 2 :Technical cooperation:
the Agency’s proposed programme for 2015
 

 
Japan would like to thank the Secretariat for providing the Agency’s

Proposed Programme for 2015 (GOV/2014/52) to the Member States at an
early date, and for holding a briefing regarding this document. Japan would
also like to thank DDG-Aning for his introductory statement.
 

 
Japan attaches great importance to the Agency’s TC activities as they
contribute to the socio-economic development of Member States,
particularly developing countries, by promoting access to peaceful uses of nuclear technology.
Japan acknowledges with satisfaction that tangible outcomes have been
achieved through Director General Amano’s initiatives to promote peaceful
uses of nuclear technology in the areas of human health and nutrition, food
and agriculture, water management and environmental protection.

 
 
Japan hopes that the Agency’s activities in those areas will be further
enhanced by implementing the recommendations by the Working Group
on Financing the Agency’s Activities, particularly through supplementary
resource mobilization and strengthened due account mechanism.

Japan fully supports the Agency’s active involvement in the discussions on
the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), and supports its effort to enhance and expand its
partnerships with other international organizations and development
partners, such as the FAO and WHO. Japan will step up its efforts to
ensure that technical cooperation activities of the Agency contribute to the

achievement of global development goals in a more effective and efficient
manner, and also to deepen the understanding and cooperation by the
global development community toward those unique contributions by the
Agency.
 
Japan regards the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa as an
imminent challenge to international peace and security, and is putting forth

its best possible efforts in the fight against this crisis. Japan welcomes, in
this regard, that the Agency has already been doing its efforts to address
the Ebola crisis by providing equipment for early diagnosis to the affected
countries. Japan will continue its close cooperation with the Agency in this
regard.
 
 

Japan considers that the Country Programme Framework (CPF) is an
important tool in determining the objectives of each TC activity in line with
the country’s national development priorities and in achieving effective and
efficient implementation of TC projects. Japan welcomes the Secretariat’s
efforts to conclude CPFs with Member States and stresses the importance
for as many recipient countries as possible to sign a CPF.
 
Japan is concerned that the Rate of Attainment for the Technical

Cooperation Fund (TCF) remained at the level of 87.4% in 2014 to date.
Despite its fiscal constraints, Japan has consistently paid its full share of
the TCF. As mentioned in the recommendations by the Working Group on
Financing the Agency’s Activities, we would like to reiterate and stress the
importance for all Member States to pay their share of the TCF target as
well as their National Participation Cost (NPC) in full and on time.
 
  

On top of its contribution to the TCF, which supports core projects of the
Agency’s technical cooperation programme, Japan has contributed more
than 12 million US dollars to the IAEA Peaceful Uses Initiative (PUI) in the
last four years. Japan considers the PUI as an effective means for
implementing the so-called “footnote-a” projects, and recently in this year,
allocated about 1.2 million US dollars to the regional TC projects in Africa,
Latin America and Asia and the Pacific. Japan also allocated over 600,000
US dollars to the PACT flagship project.
 

Japan recognizes that nuclear technologies can make unique and
significant contributions in the areas of food and agriculture, water
management and environmental protection, and human health including
cancer control. Japan has been supporting the Agency’s activities in these
areas of critical importance to the development, and allocated 1.6 million
US dollars to food and agriculture projects, 1.7 million US dollars to water
and environmental protection projects, and 1.3 million US dollars to human
health projects, all from Japan’s PUI contribution over the last four years.
Furthermore, our PUI contribution allowed the allocation of 1.4 million US

dollars to nuclear energy projects, including infrastructure development,
where the Agency has outstanding expertise and experience, and of 1
million US dollars to nuclear safety and radiation protection projects,
designed to support the building of vital infrastructure in utilizing nuclear
technologies.
 
On the ReNuAL project, we are consulting with the Secretariat and the
interested Member States to determine how Japan can contribute to this
project, including additional allocations from our PUI.
 

I would like to draw the attention of the Board to the remarks made by
Deputy Director General Aning earlier today that the Secretariat will
welcome continued support from the Member States, including through
PUI.
 
Japan will continue its support for the Agency’s technical cooperation
activities, including through its contributions to the TCF and PUI.

With these comments, Japan supports the recommended actions as set
out in document GOV/2014/52.