Chair, 

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Serbia, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

The EU thanks the Director General for the Technical Cooperation Report 2024 and congratulates the Agency for the continued successful implementation of the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).

At the outset, the EU and its Member States reaffirm their longstanding commitment to and support for the Agency’s activities in this area. Technical cooperation plays an essential role in helping Member States and particularly the least developed countries, to address pressing challenges and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, agreed by all UN Member States in 2015, remain the backbone of the work of the United Nations, including here in Vienna.

We welcome the Director General’s continued work on flagship initiatives, namely Rays of Hope, ZODIAC, Atoms4Food and NUTEC Plastics, which enjoy broad support and contributions among IAEA members. We stress the importance of coordinating these initiatives and other TC related activities with other UN agencies, based on the country ownership and national priorities. Further synergies could also be sought with other initiatives, such as Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, for instance to further enhance food safety and security and promote sustainable solutions. We recall that also the EU has joined the Group of Friends of Food Security in Vienna, established by Italy and Sudan, and we invite IAEA Member States to join this important initiative.

The EU and its Member States welcome the IAEA’s commitment to take gender perspective into account in TC programme planning, design, implementation and evaluation. We encourage the IAEA to keep actively advancing gender equality and mainstreaming and to reach gender parity in all TC activities, for example with regard to women’s participation as international experts, lectures and project counterparts.

We reiterate the importance of the needs-based, demand-driven and non-discriminatory nature of the TCP. For the EU, nuclear safety and security remain among the priority Fields of Activities. 

Chair,

In times of financial constraints, we welcome the Agency's efforts to achieve a more effective and efficient TC Programme. We encourage further prioritisation of initiatives and projects, further in-house cooperation and coordination, and further transparency in order to avoid duplication.  We invite the IAEA to continue active project monitoring and evaluation, based upon verifiable and transparent indicators, to assess results and the sustainability of projects, and to identify possible areas of improvement. 

We take note that all recommendations made by the Office of International Oversight (OIOS), due for completion by the end of 2024, were adequately addressed and look forward to further cooperation between the IAEA Technical Cooperation Department, the OIOS and the Ethics Function. 

EU Member States remain among the major contributors to the Agency’s Technical Cooperation Fund (TCF), along with extra-budgetary contributions and in-kind support from the European Commission. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre supports, for example, the development of nuclear innovative cancer treatments, access to radioligand therapy in IAEA Member States as well as the production of certified reference materials and joint research work on marine litter. We encourage further resource mobilisation also from non-traditional donors.

With these comments, we take note of the reports under consideration of this item.

Thank you, Chair.