IAEA Board of Governors
Agenda Item 7: Transfer of the nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT
18 November 2022
Statement on behalf of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States by H.E Ambassador Laura S.H Holgate, Resident Representative of the United States to the IAEA
Chair,
I take the floor on behalf of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As my Australian colleague stated at the adoption of the agenda, the AUKUS partners continue to believe that this agenda item is an unnecessary distraction for this Board. As we have done for the last twelve months, we will once again provide a substantive update on our efforts related to naval nuclear propulsion under AUKUS during the Any Other Business agenda item. We will also at that time very briefly address the troubling, inaccurate, and politicized assertions some Member States once again offered under this agenda item.
Chair,
We would like the record to reflect under this item that we remain steadfastly opposed to any calls for a separate, recurring, or standing agenda item, any kind of a “special committee,” or an “intergovernmental process” that risks undermining the IAEA Secretariat’s mandate to engage with Member States directly on safeguards issues. Attacks on the independence, professionalism and mandate of the Director General and Secretariat are particularly egregious.
The AUKUS partners would like to thank the Director General for his professionalism and would like to reiterate that we respect and continue to rely on the Agency’s impartiality, independence, and long-established mandate to engage with Member States on safeguards and verification matters, and to do so free from outside political interference.
We hope this agenda item will swiftly conclude and that the Board be allowed to return to the truly urgent and critical matters before us.
Thank you, Chair.