The closing ceremony of the IAEA's 65th annual General Conference. Photo: VOV

Vietnam has been elected to the Board of Governors of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the 2021-2023 term during the agency’s 65^th annual General Conference.

The meeting, that took place earlier this week both online and offline, drew high level representatives from the IAEA’s 172 member states as well as representatives of international agencies, including the UN and the International Maritime Organization, IMO.

Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien, Vietnam’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), led the Vietnamese delegation attending the event and was elected Vice President of the IAEA’s 65^th annual General Conference.

As a member of the IAEA’s Board of Governors, Vietnam will join other 34 member states to discuss, review, and make recommendations on the IAEA’s working agenda and financial issues. They will also consider adding new members the the IAEA, approve oversight agreements between IAEA and member states as well as review IAEA’s regulations and standards on nuclear security and safety.

Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien thanked IAEA for its support for Vietnam during the latter’s application of nuclear technologies in diverse fields, especially in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Diverse equipment and bio-products provided by IAEA has helped Vietnam precisely conduct testing and diagnosing infected cases. Vietnam will coordinate with IAEA in preparing the cooperative framework program for the 2022-2027 period by identifying mutual prioritised cooperative fields.

Vietnam will also cooperate with Laos and Cambodia in implementing their trilateral agreement on nuclear technology application, one of IAEA’s key priorities regarding its technical cooperation program in Southeast Asia.