Minister Damjanović meets IAEA officials: support to the Initiative to Establish the International Institute

Minister of Science of Montenegro Dr. Sanja Damjanović spoke today in Vienna with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), H.E. Yukiya Amano. The meeting with the Director General of the Agency was preceded by talks with his deputies: Aldo Malavasi, Deputy Director General of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications and Dazhu Yang, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation.

The talks of Minister Damjanović with the officials of the Agency were also attended by Martin Krause, Director of the Division for Europe in the Department of Technical Cooperation, Ralf Bernd Kaiser, Head of the Physics Section in the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, David Osborn, Director of the Environment Laboratories at IAEA in Monaco area, Qu Liang, Director of the Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and Jane Gerardo Abaya, Head of the Division for Asia and the Pacific in the Department of Technical Cooperation.

The interlocutors have expressed their satisfaction with the current level of cooperation between Montenegro and the Agency, confirming readiness for its further deepening and expansion. The talks of Minister Damjanović with senior officials of the Agency were focused primarily on the regional project for sustainable technologies in South East Europe, initiated by Montenegro. Minister Damjanović presented the basic parameters, goals and planned time-frame for implementation of the project, affirming its multiple significance for the entire region.

Director General of the Agency and his closest associates have welcomed the clear vision, goals, demonstrated enthusiasm and quality of expertise in relation to all key aspects of the project. The importance of the already generated political support in the region has been especially emphasized, as well as the impressive progress that has already been achieved in the design of the scientific and technical components of the project.

Representatives of the Agency have expressed full support and readiness to provide the necessary technical support to the project from the beginning, primarily when it comes to training programmes for young researchers and engineers, with a view to build the necessary expertise for the future management of sophisticated technology. In addition, other forms of expert support have been discussed, with particular reference to the international project SESAME in Jordan, which has encompassed nine countries and in whose implementation the Agency had one of the key roles.

Minister Damjanović informed the representatives of the Agency about the planned organization of a Scientific Forum at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, in January 2018. In this context, she expressed her expectation that the Forum would be held under the auspices of IAEA, together with UNESCO, which was confirmed by the Agency’s high representatives who gladly accepted the invitation to participate in the Forum.

Finally, both sides expressed their satisfaction with extremely useful and fruitful talks and confirmed readiness to continue cooperation in the implementation of this significant project, as well as other programmes and activities of importance for Montenegro.