ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday said that with decades of experience in use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes Pakistan is ready to further strengthen partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals worldwide.

Speaking to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano at the PM Office, Mr Abbasi said with an extensive experience and expertise in the nuclear field Pakistan was well placed as a provider of services for various IAEA programmes and activities.

During the meeting issues related to cooperation between Pakistan and IAEA were discussed.

The prime minister appreciated the positive role played by the IAEA in the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear technology in Pakistan. He briefed the IAEA chief on Pakistan’s energy development plans and the significance of nuclear power generation in the energy mix as a clean and environment friendly source of energy. He said Pakistan looked forward to the agency’s assistance in expanding its nuclear power production.

International Atomic Energy Agency’s role in promotion of nuclear technology’s peaceful use appreciated

During his stay in Pakistan, Mr Amano would visit various civilian facilities and installations to see for himself the strides made by the country in the application of nuclear technology in agriculture, health, industry, water resource management, environment protection and food safety.

Cancer hospitals

Meanwhile, addressing a conference, the IAEA chief said the agency was strengthening cancer hospitals in developing countries to provide treatment facilities to patients at par with the international standard.

Pakistan had well-equipped hospitals, pool of experts on the disease and had much more facilities as compared to its neighbouring and regional countries but still it needed to do more, he commented.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the three-day international conference on PAEC-IAEA: International Conference on Advances in Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine organised at the Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI).

He said almost 25 countries of South Africa, did not have any adequate equipment for the treatment, lacking any dedicated cancer centre.

IAEA was deeply involved to establish hospitals in such areas, he said, adding, besides equipment, training of staff and continuous upgrade of the current centres is also imperative.

He further said safety precaution should also be adopted during treatment as the radiations affected human health and environment if not used properly.

The IAEA chief also inaugurated Radiation Oncology Suite at NORI hospital.

The conference was organised by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in collaboration with IAEA.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2018