Vienna, Austria 15                                                                                                                      September, 2009

Madam President,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Mongolian delegation congratulates you, Madam President, on your well-deserved election as the President of the 53rd regular session of IAEA General Conference and wishes you every success in your noble duties. You may be assured, Madam President, of our confidence and full cooperation in fulfilling this important task.

On behalf of the Government of Mongolia, I wish to take this opportunity to express our deepest appreciation to Dr. Mohamed El-Baradei for his many years of outstanding service to the Agency, its Member States as well as to the cause of international peace and security. Also allow me to offer my warm congratulations to Ambassador Yukiya Amano on his election as Director General of the IAEA. I am sure that his rich experience and personal qualities will enable him to perform this high responsibility with talent, efficiency, determination and pragmatism.

We extend our warm welcome to the Kingdom of Cambodia and Republic of Rwanda as new members of the IAEA.

Madam President,
It gives me a pleasure to inform you that the Government of Mongolia highly appreciates the active measures and valuable support of the Agency. Mongolia is stepping into a new phase of its nuclear activities for peaceful purposes. It adopted a State Policy and an Action Plan on uranium utilization and nuclear energy.

The Mongolian Parliament also passed the Nuclear Energy Law, which entered into force in August. This law regulates all issues pertaining to the exploitation of radioactive minerals and nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, nuclear and radiation safety, and the protection of the population, society and the environment from negative impacts of ionizing radiation.
The Government of Mongolia established a Nuclear Energy Agency under the competence of the Prime Minister to serve as the government regulatory agency.

Mongolia has started to implement the recommendations and comments provided by IAEA expert missions established on Director General El-Baradei’s initiative to identify possible multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle. We are satisfied with the results achieved by the missions. Mongolia will pay equally close attention to any future developments that may need to be followed-up.

Madam President,

The Technical Cooperation Programme is a key component for further development of participating Member States. Therefore, Mongolia expressed to the Director General Dr. El Baradei, during his visit to Mongolia last April, its continued interest in IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme.

Similarly to worldwide tendency, the cancer morbidity and mortality are steadily increasing in Mongolia and is the second major cause of mortality among the Mongolian population. Taking into account the need for improving quality and accessibility of patient-friendly cancer services as well as for building up the diagnostic and treatment capacity through introduction of modern medical technology, Mongolia would need the assistance and expertise of IAEA and other international donor agencies.

Active participation of our country in the activities of IAEA and RCA brings significant advances in promoting nuclear studies, transferring nuclear technologies in the relevant sectors, broadening cooperation with IAEA member states, developing human resources and training the personnel.

With this in mind, I wish to reaffirm Mongolia’s strong resolve to continue its active engagement in the work of the IAEA and other multilateral organizations and processes as well as her commitment to the world Organization as a central coordinating instrument of our common efforts to address the complex challenges of our times.

My delegation wishes to thank all the staff members of the Agency for their dedication to strengthening technical cooperation activities between Mongolia and Agency. I also reaffirm my Government’s commitment to fully support the activities of the Agency to promote safe and peaceful applications of nuclear technologies. My country, in spite of its financial difficulties, has made a pledge to the Technical Cooperation Fund in recognition of the value of the Agency’s Technical cooperation to our development efforts.

Madame President,

Mongolia reaffirms its full support for IAEA’s safeguards and verification activities aimed at ensuring nuclear non-proliferation. Like others, we highly commend the efforts of the Agency in this important area. With many countries adopting nuclear programs, the Agencies activities in this area need to be fully supported.

My delegation wishes to reaffirm Mongolia’s strong commitment to the goals of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. Together with other non-nuclear weapon states, it is working to make the forthcoming NPT review conference an important landmark in the common efforts to strengthening the NPT regime and taking the practical steps towards a nuclear-weapon-free world. With that in mind last April Mongolia hosted the first meeting of focal points of nuclear-weapon-free zones that adopted a joint statement addressed to the 2010 NPT review conference.

Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status is an important contribution of our country not only to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, but also to confidence building in the region. This year Mongolia held a trilateral meeting in Geneva with Russia and China to consider a draft trilateral treaty that would define Mongolia’s status at the international level. We are expressing the hope that soon these talks would result in conclusion of a treaty institutionalizing the status.

In conclusion, Madame President, allow me to reiterate the continuing commitment of Mongolia to the noble aims of the IAEA and its readiness to word with the Agency and the entire membership in promoting these noble goals.

Thank you for your attention.

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