Commenting on this noteworthy event, the NEA Director-General Luis Echávarri said "This joint declaration is highly significant and an important step towards strengthening ties between the Russia and the NEA. Russian participation will enhance the work of the NEA pool of over 3 000 international nuclear experts." The joint declaration opens the way for Russia to participate as an observer in all of the Agency's standing technical committees* and their working groups. Co-ordination of the co-operation carried out under the joint declaration will be the responsibility of the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy (Rosatom) and the NEA Secretariat respectively.
The joint declaration has multiple goals: facilitating scientific research in the nuclear field; assessing innovative technology development; advancing national and international legal frameworks; and performing economic analyses essential for the safe, ecological and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The NEA Steering Committee has identified the Russia for a number of years in its outreach strategy, notably because of the country's sizable nuclear power programme, its technical capacity and the mutual benefit that would ensue from such co-operation. In the past, Russia has already participated in NEA work in the areas of nuclear safety, nuclear regulation and nuclear law. It also participates in a number of NEA joint projects, several of which it has hosted.
Background information for journalists | Statement by Luis E. Echávarri on the signing of the Declaration | Joint Declaration on Co-operation between the Government of Russia and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in the field of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy
*NEA standing technical committees:
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