The ninth annual Seminar on Technical Cooperation for Diplomats took place this week, gathering together more than 50 Member State delegates from 43 Permanent Missions in Vienna. Held each year at the IAEA’s headquarters, the Seminar introduces new diplomatic staff—from cultural and scientific attachés to ambassadors—to the Agency’s technical cooperation (TC) programme.
Held this year on 22 October, the all-day event comprised a series of presentations which shed light on the diverse range of work conducted through the IAEA’s TC programme, while additionally clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the programme’s equally-diverse stakeholders.
Divided into nine sessions, the Seminar was inaugurated by Mr. Dazhu Yang, IAEA Deputy Director General (DDG) and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, who explained: “The Seminar starts broadly, covering the policies that inform the programme, the international context around it, and the main areas where we offer support to Member States. It then goes deeper into detail on specific operational aspects.”
Reflecting the Deputy Director General’s comments, the Seminar’s sessions were structured so that each presentation gradually narrowed in focus, beginning with broad contextual and institutional matters and subsequently tapering to address subjects such as quality assurance, the role of Permanent Missions, and the financing of the programme.
Emphasizing the IAEA’s ‘One-House Approach’ to the delivery of technical cooperation, Agency staff also delivered presentations on the role played by technical officers (TOs), institutional partnerships, and the growing contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals made through the TC programme.
The theme of ownership of the TC programme by the Member States underpinned each presentation and provided a continuous thematic focus for the Seminar. The Agency’s Member States articulate their needs, design projects, and—with the support of the IAEA Secretariat—eventually implement technical cooperation projects designed to address their development priorities. “The TC programme is needs-driven,” explained Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director of the Division for Africa in the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Department. “The programme is based on requests for assistance by Member States, in accordance with their national priorities. This is your programme,” continued Director Abdulrazak.
The Seminar for Diplomats concluded with a high-level session facilitated by Mr Yang, who was joined by his colleagues Mr Aldo Malavasi, DDG and Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Mr Juan Carlos Lentijo, DDG and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, and Mr Dohee Hahn, Acting DDG and Director of the Division of Nuclear Power, who participated on behalf of DDG Mikhail Chudakov.
The Technical Cooperation Seminar for Diplomats takes place each year at the Agency’s Vienna headquarters, and this year, for the first time, a similar event was held in Geneva, Switzerland, to reach out to Permanent Missions accredited to the IAEA from this UN seat. The event, co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe, took place on 8 October at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. While both events explored the same subjects, the Geneva seminar provided more detail on the science underpinning the programme, presenting the role of the Agency’s Environmental Laboratories in Monaco, and its Joint FAO-IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture
