South African Embassy, Vienna
Sandgasse 33, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 320 6493
Fax: +43 1 320 6493 51
Emergency No: +43 664 7550 3585 FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY (NOT FOR VISA RELATED ENQUIRIES)

Business Hours Embassy
Mon-Fri 08.00-12.45; 13.30-16.30
Visiting Hours Consular Section

Visa, SA Citizen Services
Mon-Fri 08.30 - 12.00

Statements

03. June 2014

Statement delivered by Ambassador Tebogo Seokolo, Resident Representative/Governor of the Republic of South Africa, International Atomic Energy Agency, Board of Governors, Vienna from 2 to 6 June 2014

AGENDA ITEM 6 (C): THE SAFEGUARDS IMPLEMENTATION REPORT FOR 2013 CONTAINED IN DOCUMENT GOV/2014/27.

Chairperson,

My delegation associates itself with the statement delivered by the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of the NAM, His Excellency Ambassador Reza Najafi. We thank the Director General for his report on the Safeguards Implementation Report for 2013 contained in document GOV/2014/27 and his introductory statement. Let me also thank DDG Tero Varjonata for his introductory remarks and the Technical Briefing held on 21 May 2014.

Chairperson,

My delegation welcomes DDGVarjoranta’s correction of paragraph 113 of the SIR 2013, which alluded that the Agency has developed a State level safeguards approach for South Africa. We appreciate the promptness in which the DDG addressed this issue the minute it was broad to his attention.

Chairperson,

My delegation is encouraged to note that during 2013, progress was made in the implementation of safeguards. My delegation welcomes the assurance from the Secretariat that all declared nuclear material remained in peaceful activities. Furthermore, my delegation commends the two (2) States for which a comprehensive safeguards agreement entered into force as well as four (4) States that brought into force the additional protocol. We also welcome the signing of the conclusions of additional protocol by the Kingdom of Cambodia. However, we note that further work remains to be done, to address some of the challenges relating to safeguards implementation.

Chairperson,

South Africa continued to co-operate with the Agency on its Member State Support Programme and made key contributions to the IAEA Topical Guidance documents on Safeguards Implementation for “newcomer states” implementing the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocols through participation at senior level by sharing best practices for in-field verification activities.

Chairperson,

My delegation would like to underscore that a strengthened safeguards system will have a positive impact on the achievement of the NPT objectives. On the other hand, we believe that a discriminatory approach in the application of safeguards has a huge potential to weaken the NPT.

Chairman,

With regard to the ongoing discussions on the SLC, my delegation commends the DDG, Tero Varjoranta and his team for the balanced manner in which they conducted SLC briefings. My delegation shares the view that these meetings, are extremely useful for Member States to arrive at a common understanding, on how the SLC will impact on the implementation of safeguards.

We look forward to the Supplementary document of the Director-General, which we believe should reflect all concerns and issues raised. In this context, South Africa welcomes the opportunity to discuss the document of the Director-General and is of the view that more meetings would be requiredto allow Member States to arrive at a common understanding, which we believe would go a long way to facilitate the process of adoption of the report by the IAEA.

With these remarks South Africa takes note of the report of the Director-General on the Safeguards Implementation in 2013 as contained in document GOV/2014/27, including the correction as indicated by DDG Safeguards.

I thank you

Archive

    Select a category:

  • Economy
  • Tourism
  • South Africa
  • International relations
  • Foreign politics
  • South Africa in Austria
  • International organizations
  • South Africa in Slovenia
  • Bilateral Relations
  • Press
  • Topnews
  • Statements
 
© Copyright by SA Embassy 2024 | Imprint | Contact | Privacy Policy | Deutsch