Kazakhstan actively promotes restoration of sovereign equality of IAEA member states

The Group of Arealess Member States, chaired by Slovenia, convened its second meeting ahead of the upcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

 The objective of the Group of Friends is to distribute the IAEA member states that are not members of regional groups and, accordingly, are deprived of the right to be represented in the Agency's decision-making bodies.

The relevant mandate of the Group was approved by the resolution of the IAEA General Conference initiated by Kazakhstan in September 2023, and adopted by an overwhelming majority of votes.

Those attending the event were heads of diplomatic missions of the United States, Russia, China, Canada, Great Britain, the European Union, Australia, Türkiye, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, South Africa, and other member states.

The meeting discussed possible criteria and principles for a fair and early distribution of 17 countries to the relevant regional groups, which include Kazakhstan, Israel, Nepal, Bahrain, Central Asian countries, and the Asia-Pacific region.

In his speech, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, put forward a proposal to appoint facilitators from among the impartial countries in each of the 8 regional groups who would promote the membership of these countries in the regional groups. This proposal found wide support among the participants of the meeting of the Group of Friends.

The heads of diplomatic missions thanked Kazakhstan and Slovenia for actively promoting the issue of restoration of sovereign equality in the IAEA. Kazakhstan's active stance in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy was particularly emphasized, including the upcoming co-chairmanship with Australia in the International Conference on Nuclear Security (ICONS-2024) slated for 20-24 May this year.