Al-Aboudi: Iraq hopes to advance its atomic energy programs with the assistance of IAEA

Baghdad-INA
Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR) Naeem Al-Aboudi confirmed on Wednesday, that Iraq is looking forward to the support of the International Agency to advance the peaceful atomic energy program.
 
A statement by the ministry received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) stated that "the head of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Naeem Al-Aboudi, met with the Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi at the agency's headquarters in the Austrian capital Vienna on the sidelines of its 68th General Conference."
 
The statement added that "the two sides discussed the contexts of cooperation stipulated in the technical cooperation agreement signed by the head of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, Naeem Al-Aboudi, with the Technical Cooperation Department of the International Agency for the years 2024-2029."
 
Al-Aboudi stressed that "Iraq looks forward to the support of the International Agency to advance peaceful atomic energy programs that serve the Iraqi people in the fields of nuclear waste treatment, radioactive waste management, nuclear medicine, agriculture and the education sector," noting "the importance of implementing joint technical cooperation programs according to timings that take into account the specificity and quality of scientific projects in Iraq."
 
It explained that "climate change indicators and what is related to this axis of the water and desertification file, expressing his hope "to develop joint cooperation between Iraqi universities and specialized academic institutions with experts from the International Agency for the Development of Treatments in the agricultural and research sector and to increase the opportunities available to Iraq to develop its cadres through scholarships in the fields of nuclear engineering and nuclear physics, whether provided by the International Agency or scholarships provided by member states."
 
For his part, the Director General of IAEA Rafael Mariano Grossi at welcomed "the ongoing communication with Iraq after the important visit to Baghdad conducted by the IAEA delegation last March 2024," renewing "the keenness of the IAEA and its experts to develop positive relations with Iraq."