NEW YORK - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano has praised Pakistan’s impressive nuclear security record spanning over four decades of nuclear power plant operation.

In a meeting with Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in New York on the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly, Amano said the IAEA stood ready to help Pakistan and other countries achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The IAEA director general said the organisation had an important role to play in the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

He appreciated the excellent cooperation between Pakistan and the IAEA, adding that IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme with Pakistan was one of its largest in the world. He praised Pakistan’s impressive nuclear security record over more than four decades of operating nuclear power plants and expressed satisfaction at the implementation of IAEA safeguards measures by Pakistan.

Thanking Amano for the mutually beneficial cooperation Pakistan enjoyed with IAEA as one its founding members since 1957, Aizaz said that Pakistan deeply valued the role played by IAEA in the development of peaceful uses of nuclear technology. He added that Pakistan attached the highest priority to nuclear safety and security as a national responsibility and that all of Pakistan’s nuclear power plants and research reactors were under IAEA safeguards, adding that Pakistan was fully meeting its obligations in this regard.

Established in 1957, the IAEA works to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies. Pakistan actively participates in the policy discussions and activities of the IAEA and has maintained a regular presence on its Board of Governors.