Special Event on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle during the 50th Session of the IAEA General Conference
Dr. ElBaradei, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me first to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. ElBaradei once again for the Nobel Prize he was awarded in 2005 along with the IAEA.
The international Community has shown its appreciation and its trust for your combined work.
The Principality fully shares this appreciation having participated in the Agency´s activities for a long time.
Monaco will further increase its support in the near future, particularly in the area of radiotherapy, by contributing to the PACT program.
Through our expertise, in the use of nuclear energy in the medical field, to the benefit of human health and development, we will support the efforts of the IAEA in its fight against the great threats of our era.
Dr. El Baradei, in his Oslo lecture, placed "poverty, infectious diseases, and environmental degradation" at the first rank of world´s threats.
Environmental protection has brought us together today. This is a priority which recently prompted me to create the Prince Albert II Foundation.
If a cooperation between my Foundation and certain Agency programmes is initiated, rest assured, Dr. ElBaradei, we will examine it with the utmost attention.
The oceans and the seas are key elements in the protection of what is definitely beginning to be perceived as "international public goods".
For more than a century, the Principality has actively supported the scientific exploration of the "sixth continent". My great-great Grandfather, Prince Albert Ist, was a pioneer establishing a science which was then new, oceanography.
Today, the sea more than ever is regarded as a source of wealth for humans, as an essential sanctuary and contains evidence of our Earth´s past. It is a precious resource for humankind´s future. Thus we have to protect it.
The sea must definitely become a symbol of the solidarity existing between the inhabitants of our planet.
Prince Albert Ist was and still is a source of inspiration for his passionate contribution to the development of sciences. We will continue to support initiatives to encourage sustainable development.
Since 1961, we are proud that the IAEA Laboratory has been established in Monaco. They continue to honour the protection of the marine environment.
I entrusted to this Laboratory the specimens I brought back from the expedition to Spitsbergen which I conducted along with a scientific team, in June 2005.
I most appreciate the partnership which has been established between the MEL and the Monaco Scientific Center dedicated to studying the relationship between corals and their environment.
I attach great importance to the development of closer relations between the scientific institutions of Monaco and international partners. The cooperation I just mentioned is a perfect example.
I would like to congratulate the organizers of this exhibition for what they have achieved so far. I wish the Agency a most successful 50th General Conference.