IAEA Board of Governors
Agenda item 5: Nuclear Security Report
9 September 2024
Joint statement by Australia and Kazakhstan (delivered by Kazakhstan)
Thank you Chair,
The following statement is made on behalf of Kazakhstan and Australia.
Kazakhstan and Australia welcome the Director General’s report on the International Conference on Nuclear Security 2024, which highlights that nuclear security is an important topic that impacts us all, and that the security of nuclear and radioactive materials is a shared goal of all Member States.
In this vein, Kazakhstan and Australia were honoured to Co-Preside over the International Conference on Nuclear Security in May this year, which brought together ministers, policymakers, senior officials, and nuclear security experts from across the world to discuss the future of nuclear security.
At the Conference, we were pleased to see universal support for strengthening nuclear security, and welcomed the many commitments made by Member States to this end.
The outcomes of the Conference will be long lasting, and its impact will be far reaching. With over 2000 participants, many nuclear security experts have now travelled back to capitals with their newly gained knowledge from the substantive discussions that took place to share experiences, best practices and lessons learnt.
Chair,
Kazakhstan and Australia were also privileged to chair the process for preparing a Ministerial Declaration for ICONS 2024.
It is disappointing that despite being so very close to reaching consensus, we were ultimately unable to achieve agreement. The Co-Presidents did however release a Joint Statement that was fully informed by, and reflective of, the many months of negotiations in the leadup to ICONS.
This Joint Statement has now been circulated in INFCIRC/1233, and enjoys the alignment of 76 IAEA Member States. We continue to encourage other states who have not yet done so, to align with this Joint Statement as a demonstration of their commitment to nuclear security.
Finally Chair,
ICONS 2024 highlighted the universal benefits of strong and sustainable nuclear security regimes, and the fact that these cannot be achieved in isolation. International cooperation is a key requirement of creating and maintaining a durable and resilient global nuclear security system, and ICONS plays a key role in facilitating that goal. We encourage all states to build upon the momentum achieved at ICONS, and to take practical actions to make the world secure from the threat of nuclear terrorism, and more prosperous and safer for our communities to thrive.
With these remarks, Kazakhstan and Australia thank the Director General for his report on ICONS 2024.