Mur Lura
Speech by Mr Gaetan Naudi, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, to the IAEA Regional Workshop on the Effective Implementation of National Nuclear Legislation 26 – 30 November 2001
pr1784
26/11/2001
26/11/2001
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
| It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Malta | and to the opening of this IAEA workshop on the Effective Implementation of National Nuclear Legislation. I trust that your stay on our island will be a pleasant one and that your participation in this workshop will prove to be beneficial to you and to your countries. I hope that the facilities we have provided for the workshop will meet your requirements. |
| The topic under discussion this week is one that has | become increasingly important in all of our countries that share the task of developing and upgrading the legislative frameworks governing the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear substances. |
| For Malta, this workshop comes at a time when we are | currently reviewing and re-drafting our nuclear legislative framework in order to bring it up to European Union’s and world standards. As a non-nuclear state, our legislation in this area will mainly concentrate around the establishment of a regulatory body which will be responsible for licensing, inspection and enforcement of safety standards in the areas of health, occupational safety, emergency preparedness in case of a radiological accident as well as environmental protection and waste safety. |
| Malta became a fully fledged member of the IAEA only | a short time ago, to be precise in September 1997 and has since made great progress in the use of radioactive substances as well as in the creation of the regulatory process to control such use. It is enough to say that we are currently co-operating with the IAEA on three national projects in the areas of human and animal health, food preservation and water management. |
| In addition, we are also participating in over | thirteen regional projects all aimed at improving our radiation protection infrastructure, covering in particular the training of our staff in the basic safety standards and ensuring the transfer of knowledge in the trainer approach. |
| Since its membership of the Agency, Malta has sought | to co-operate actively in all its projects as well as has tried to fulfill as effectively as possible its membership obligations. Naturally, for a small state like our own, with limited resources, the process has not been easy but with the dedication of our staff in the various departments as well as the Ministries concerned, great progress has been achieved in many of the fields mentioned especially that of the safety of personnel and of patients in the health sector, which is by far the largest user of radioactive materials in Malta. In order to substantiate all our efforts in this area, we have been engaged in the process of reviewing the various IAEA Conventions and protocols so that we can accept the responsibilities of a State Party as soon as possible. |
| Malta’s active engagement in Agency activities is | not limited solely to our co-operation in the IAEA ‘s technical co-operation projects but extends itself to an active participation in other areas. One need only mention the recent hosting of the IAEA International Conference on the Management of Radioactive Waste from Non-Power Applications in Malta at the beginning of this month. This conference brought 150 scientists from over 50 countries world-wide in order to share their experiences on the subject, one that is becoming increasingly important in this day and age and one that cannot be ignored by small and larger countries alike. The success of the conference was characterised by the high degree of interaction among the participants, a process which we hope can be repeated here in order to ensure the success of this workshop. Such a process of interaction can be even more successfully used in small workshops like this. |
| This IAEA regional workshop is not the first hosted | by Malta and will definitely not be the last. In February next year we will be hosting a similar regional workshop on Nuclear Medicine and we hope to see representatives from your countries participating. |
| Throughout its history, Malta has always been at the | crossroads of civilizations crossing the Mediterranean Sea. An attestation to this is our rich cultural heritage which I hope you will have time to experience whilst on our islands and one you will surely get the feel for on Thursday night when wining and dining in our beautiful old capital of Mdina. |
Mr. Chairman,
I want to conclude my brief intervention by once again thanking the IAEA for choosing Malta as a venue for this Workshop and wish you success in your deliberations.
Thank you.
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