Statement by His Excellency Mr Tebogo Joseph Seokolo, Chairperson of the IAEA Board of Governors. Appendix I. Opening Session Statements [International Conference on the Technical Cooperation Programme: Sixty Years and Beyond - Contributing to Development, Vienna (Austria), 30 May - 1 June 2017]

For the past six decades, the Technical Cooperation Programme of the IAEA has been recognised as an important delivery mechanism through which the Agency fulfils its statutory mandate to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy. In recent years the Agency has become even more relevant in assisting Member States towards the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as adopted by the General Assembly in 2015. This International TC Conference, will therefore provide Member States with an ideal opportunity to collectively reflect on how the IAEA Technical Cooperation Programme continues to assist countries through nuclear science and technology to address their socio-economic development challenges. The TC Programme provides an important support to countries in areas such as human health, food and agriculture, environment and water resources management and industrial applications in support of their national development priorities. For example in the area of human health, the IAEA supported global efforts to fight the outbreak of the Ebola Viral Diseases in West Africa, in 2015, using a nuclear diagnostic technique for rapid identification of the virus. In addition, the Agency provided assistance in the form of equipment, laboratory supplies and technical advice, to supplement the limited capacities of these countries.