ISLAMABAD, April 12: Pakistan has always shown keen interest in the activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and believes in regional cooperation for the utilization of nuclear energy for peaceful applications , Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Monday.

He was speaking at the 26th meeting of Regional Cooperation Agreement (RCA) Representatives for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Sciences and Technology for Asia and the Pacific.

The minister said holding of the conference was a timely step for research, development and training related to nuclear science and technology for the region.

Activities of this forum in this region had played an important role in initiating the idea of sharing each others know-how for development and its achievements were being widely regarded as an example of successful cooperative efforts in application on nuclear techniques, he added.

"We in Pakistan are ready to play our role in such cooperation and I am happy to say that in the field of application of nuclear techniques in Isotope Hydrology, PINSTECH, a research institute of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), has been declared Regional Resource Unit, which has a lot of accumulated experience and expertise and we will be glad to share the experience of this centre with other member states," he said.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had gained substantially from the activities of the RCA in the peaceful application of nuclear technology in areas of agriculture, health, industry, quality assurance and research reactor utilization.

Later talking to the media, the minister said through the application of nuclear techniques for peaceful purposes, Pakistan had evolved high-yield soil suitable crop varieties which had fetched approximately Rs60 billion accumulative additional income to the farmers of the country.

This technology is being employed for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer-related diseases from which more than 300,000 patients are benefiting annually, he said, adding that nuclear know-how was being used in quality control technologies (Non- Destructive Testing) which would help improve the quality of manufactured goods.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr Masud Ahmed said meeting like this reminds us that it was the primary responsibility of the agency as well as moral obligation of globally and regionally advance countries to introduce and promote the use of atomic energy in socio-economic development of the third world.

The PAEC member (Physical Sciences) observed that "we need concerted and cooperative efforts at the international level which could direct their energy and expertise to help solve problems of the developing countries".

He said Pakistan was an active member of international organizations like WANO, COG, WNU, WNA, Canadian Nuclear Society, American Nuclear Society, CERN and Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics.

"These organizations deal with wide ranging issues like nuclear plant operation and basic sciences, but the problems facing the developing countries are of much graver nature and require new and bold initiatives by the organizations like IAEA," he said.

Dr Masud said the demand for electricity could not be fulfilled by hydel or fossil fuel resources alone and the sustainable solution to this problem was nuclear power.