Malta becomes a Member of IAEA

The General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), yesterday 29 September 1997, unanimously approved Malta's application to become the 126th member of the Agency, following a recommendation by the IAEA's Board of Governors.

The application was submitted to the IAEA's Board of Governors by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, Dr. George Vella, following a Cabinet decision last December. The General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency is holding its forty-first session at its Headquarters in Vienna from 29th September to 3rd October 1997.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is an autonomous intergovernmental organisation which was founded in 1957 in accordance with a decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Its main pillars are nuclear safety, safeguards and technical cooperation. Under the Agency's Technical Cooperation Programme, Member States may benefit from participation in regional training courses, seminars and workshops.

Mr. Saviour F. Borg, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Vienna, who is leading the Maltese delegation, thanked the Board of Governors and the General Conference for approving Malta's application. He assured the General Conference that Malta would tirelessly work with the Agency to ensure that the objectives for which the Agency was established would be realised in the most comprehensive manner possible.

Ambassador Borg will present his credentials to the Director-General of the IAEA accrediting him as Malta's first Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday, 1 October, 1997.