The 59th General Conference (GC) of the IAEA is opening on Monday at IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA’s week-long annual meeting gathers representatives from the IAEA's Member States, including several ministers, to consider and decide on key elements of the Agency’s work, budget and priorities. Additionally, several dozen events — including a Scientific Forum — await delegates and high ranking governmental representatives.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano will deliver a statement at the opening session of the Conference, in which he will highlight key developments in the IAEA's work since the last General Conference.
General Conference delegates are expected to consider the IAEA Annual Report for 2014 and the IAEA’s Programme and Budget for 2016-2017. Budget and finance related matters are also on the provisional agenda, such as contributions to the Technical Cooperation Fund; the IAEA’s Financial Statements for 2014; and the scale of the assessments of Member States’ contributions towards the Regular Budget.
Delegates will also review 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, transport and waste safety; technical cooperation activities; and nuclear science, technology and applications.
Other issues include nuclear security; strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of Agency safeguards; implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement between the Agency and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; and the application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East.
Several key reports by the Director General, previously noted by the Board of Governors, have been provided to delegates for discussion. These include the Nuclear Safety Review 2015; the Report by the Director General on The Fukushima Daiichi Accident; the Implementation of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety; the Nuclear Security report 2015;the Nuclear Technology Review 2015; the Technical Cooperation Report for 2014; and the Strengthening the Effectiveness and Improving the Efficiency of Agency Safeguards — Report by the Director General. The complete list of documents provided to the GC is available here.
Scientific Forum and Other Events
A number of events will be held in conjunction with the General Conference, foremost being a special Scientific Forum on Atoms in Industry, focusing on the benefits of nuclear technology for development. The Forum will bring together leading experts, academics and industrial representatives from 30 countries to review the advantages of nuclear applications for industrial use, particularly in making production cleaner, safer and more effective.
At the same time, dozens of exhibits and other side events have been organized, which will highlight activities and special programmes being undertaken by departments and offices at the IAEA, as well as several IAEA Member States. These include events on the Report on the Fukushima Daiichi Accident — Lessons Learned; Atoms for Peace and Development: The IAEA and the Post-2015 Development Goals; and the Renovation of the Nuclear Applications Laboratories Implementation Kick-off.
More information on the side events and other conference-related information — including the provisional agenda — are available at the General Conference web site.
