Representatives from fifteen countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have agreed to a workplan to promote regional sustainability and create collaborative networks among national nuclear institutions in the region, at a meeting held 9 to 13 March in Mexico.
With the support of the IAEA technical cooperation programme, Latin America and the Caribbean have made substantial progress in establishing nuclear institutions and national commissions that focus on the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. However, as this field is evolving rapidly, the IAEA and ARCAL States Parties have identified the need to take additional steps to consolidate the results achieved in the region so far, and to strengthen and make more sustainable existing national nuclear institutions.
At the March event – the first coordination meeting for a new regional ARCAL project[1] – representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela worked together to identify the challenges and opportunities that national nuclear institutions and commissions face, and the best way to contribute to the development of countries in the region. The meeting was attended by senior national decision makers, and by international experts specializing in the development and implementation of strategic business plans.
The meeting participants analysed how best to implement strategic plans, agreeing that such plans should contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, the establishment of partnerships, the management of good practices, and the promotion of sustainability through the process optimization and the management of nuclear talent. An important outcome of the meeting was agreement on a project work plan that would help promote the sustainability of nuclear institutions and commissions in the region, and support the creation of collaborative networks among national nuclear institutions in the region.
__________
[1] RLA0062, ‘Promoting the Sustainability and Networking of National Nuclear Energy Institutions (ARCAL CLXIII)’.
