CIDCA, IAEA sign MoU to promote cooperation

Luo Zhaohui, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), met with Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Oct 14 via video link.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on exchanges and cooperation.

Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Vienna Wang Qun, Deputy Director General of the IAEA Liu Hua and Director-General of the CIDCA's Department of International Cooperation Tian Lin attended the meeting.

Luo said the IAEA is the most important international intergovernmental organization in the nuclear field, making active contributions to preventing nuclear proliferation and promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy worldwide. The Global Development Initiative China proposed recently shows the direction for the cooperation between the two sides.

The CIDCA is willing to take the signing of the MoU as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges with the IAEA, leverage their respective strengths, and actively explore cooperation in various fields to help developing countries achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Luo said.

The Global Development Initiative is very important and the IAEA is ready to participate in it, said Grossi, adding that the CIDCA has been actively engaged in foreign aid work and is a "doer" in promoting international development cooperation.

He said that this MoU marks the first time that the IAEA has signed a cooperation document with a country’s international development agency, which is of historical significance, and the IAEA is willing to make joint efforts with China to continue to make contributions to sustainable development.

Wang congratulated the two sides on the signing of the MoU, saying that this is a concrete manifestation of China's implementation of the spirit of the Global Development Initiative and a milestone in strengthening cooperation between China and the IAEA. The Permanent Mission of China to the UN and Other International Organizations in Vienna will do its best to cooperate with the CIDCA and the IAEA in the implementation of the document.