11 October 2005 – Ambassador Victor G. Garcia III, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that at the 49th Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, the Philippines cited the contributions of the IAEA to the maintenance of peace and security, and acknowledged the contributions of peaceful applications of nuclear technology in support of Philippine economic development.

In his statement at the Session held in Vienna from 26 – 30 September 2005, Ambassador Garcia outlined several examples of successful Technical Cooperation projects, including those on the environment, food and agriculture, water resource management, non-power applications in industry, and radiation technology.

According to Ambassador Garcia, these projects include research on Harmful Algal Blooms, or “red tide,” the establishment of an air monitoring station in Davao, food irradiation of mango products to make them more competitive in the global market, management of deep water reservoirs, and other new and continuing projects.

Ambassador Garcia also called for the universal adoption of the Model Additional Protocol on Safeguards to strengthen and toughen the verification authority of the IAEA, and expressed regret at the failure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to achieve consensus on substantive issues, and the fact that the UN Global Summit yielded no agreement on disarmament and non-proliferation.

The Ambassador also welcomed the recent breakthrough in the Six-Party Talks on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue, and stressed that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is crucial for the security as well as the continued and sustained economic development in the region.  He also called on the DPRK to uphold its pledge to end and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, rejoin the NPT and allow the IAEA to resume its inspection and verification activities in the DPRK.

Ambassador Garcia likewise joined in the call for Iran, the UK, France and Germany to return to negotiations and dialogue.  He also expressed the view that the IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei has not exhausted his mandate in Iran, and should be given all the support he needs to complete his mission in Iran: to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Ambassador Garcia led the Philippine delegation to the General Conference.  Other members of the Philippine delegation were Philippine Nuclear Research Institute Director Alumanda de la Rosa, Minister-Counsellor Julio Dery, Third Secretary Robert Ferrer, Jr., and Attaché Eleazer Sevilla.  END