2nd FNCA Meeting
Chairman's Summary of the Second Meeting of the Forum for Nuclear
Cooperation in Asia |
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| 1. |
The second meeting of the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA)
was held in Tokyo, on the 28th and 29th of November 2001. Ministers and
Senior Officials responsible for peaceful nuclear research, development
and utilization from nine Asian countries-Australia, the People's Republic
of China, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the
Republic of the Philippines, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam and Japan-attended and took part. Ministerial level Meeting
began with an opening address by H. E. Mr. Koji Omi, Minister of State
for Science and Technology Policy of Japan. A series of meaningful discussions
followed. |
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| 2. |
Each participating country presented its country report at Session 1 in
the morning of the 29th. Because of the diversity of those countries in
terms of nuclear technology, the country reports covered manifold topics.
Each country explained its latest utilization of and policies of nuclear
technology. Each country also mentioned its own activities in FNCA. All
countries again recognized the importance of cooperation among them in
the field of nuclear technology, and they restated the necessity of improving
further cooperation in this field. In this context, they referred to the
importance of FNCA's role in cooperation. |
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| 3. |
Roundtable discussions were held in the sessions in the afternoon of the
29th. The first subject, “Nuclear Energy in Sustainable Development,” was
discussed in Session 2. Japan made lead-off presentation on the necessity
of simultaneous achievement of the 3E's: “Economic Growth,” “Energy Security”
and “Environmental Protection.” After an active discussion, the participants
agreed on the following statements: |
| (1) |
All participating countries recognize the close linkage between energy
and sustainable development. |
| (2) |
Nuclear energy is recognized as one important energy source; the importance
of safe operation, public acceptance, non-proliferation and certain other
preconditions are also recognized and emphasized. |
| (3) |
The relationship between CDM and nuclear energy was discussed and will
be further examined. |
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| 4. |
For the second subject, “Cooperation in Utilization of Radiation,” Japan
made lead-off presentation in Session 3. Because this subject includes
many items common to the participating countries, they reported on activities
in their individual countries, and were in general agreement with the following: |
| (1) |
Utilization of radiation should be aimed at improving human welfare and
shares broad connections with the areas of environmental protection, medical
science, agriculture including food irradiation, and industry. (An interesting
suggestion was made, that utilization of radiation could be an important
tool for overcoming people's negative perceptions of nuclear technology.) |
| (2) |
Cooperation in this field should be magnified in the future, and must include
consideration of relationships to other organizations, such as the RCA,
the World Bank, the United Nations, and various bilateral relationships. |
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| 5. |
The third meeting will be held in Seoul in the autumn of 2002 (co-hosted
by Atomic Energy Commission of Japan). The delegation of the Republic of
Korea announced that the theme of the meeting in Seoul would be “Atoms
for the Next Generation”. The fourth meeting will be held in Japan in 2003.
The meeting also agreed that the fifth meeting would be held in the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam in 2004. |
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