Kazakhstan initiated an agenda item on the issue of Sovereign Equality at the IAEA Board of Governors

Vienna, 27 February 2024 – Prior to the March meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, a meeting of Member States not included in the regional groups was held in Vienna with the Chairman of the IAEA Board of Governors, the Permanent Representative of Argentina, Holger Federico Martinsen. Meetings of this format have been held since May last year at the initiative of Kazakhstan.

During the meeting, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi, informed the participants of the inclusion of the item "Restoration of sovereign equality of Member States in the IAEA" on the agenda of the next meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors.

According to the head of Kazakhstan's diplomatic mission, such an action is aimed at solving the problem of representation of States in the Agency's decision-making bodies within the framework of the implementation of the relevant resolution of the IAEA General Conference GC (67)/RES/15.

Mukhtar Tileuberdi thanked Barbara Žvokelj, Permanent Representative of Slovenia, Chair of the Group of Friends of Arealess Member States, for her leadership and active participation in the search for solutions. In turn, Barbara Žvokelj announced her intention to provide a detailed briefing on the progress made on the Kazakhstan agenda item and further plans for effective promotion of the issue.

Participants agreed to actively support the mandate of the Group of Friends, chaired by Slovenia.