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1. The Ministerial-level Meeting of the sixth Forum for Nuclear Cooperation
in Asia (FNCA) was held December 1st in Tokyo under the chairmanship of
Professor Shunsuke Kondo, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan.
Ministers presented were those who had jurisdiction over the research,
development, and utilization of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes from
nine countries; Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Bangladesh was recognized
as observer at the outset of the Opening session of the meeting and the
Minister from Bangladesh was presented at the meeting
2. In the Opening session, H.E. Mr. Iwao Matsuda, Minister of State
for Science and Technology Policy of Japan gave opening address. He emphasized
that regarding the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Asia, steady progress
of radiation uses in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry, etc.
was noteworthy and the use of nuclear energy would fulfill an important
role as a measure against global warming as the securing of energy would
become an important issue in the future development of the Asian region
where, hereafter, quantum leaps in the field of economics are expected.
At the same time, he pointed out the necessity of the maintenance
and strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime through the strengthening
of the NPT regime as a prerequisite for nuclear energy utilization and
called for all FNCA countries which had not concluded the Additional Protocol
yet to do so. Moreover, he stressed that strengthening of the nuclear security
is indispensable, while ensuring safety is a significant prerequisite for
the use of nuclear energy. In this context, he welcomed the adoption of
the "International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism" and the amendment of the "Convention on the Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material", and appealed to FNCA countries to
sign and implement both of these conventions at an early date, and strengthen
commitments to Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive
Sources.
3. In the Session 1 on Country Reports, each Minister made a report
of the current status of FNCA activities and the trends in policy measures
related to the recent research, development, and utilization of nuclear
energy in her country. As for fields of application of radiation, it was
reported that positive and fruitful results are being steadily attained
in each country and contributions are being made to improving the quality
of life of the people and socio-economic development, and was also confirmed
that FNCA activities played a major role in such developments. It was reconfirmed
also that the role of nuclear energy is significant from the perspectives
of the efforts for ensuring the stable supply of energy as well as dealing
with the global warming problem. The participating countries have welcome
the development of FNCA activities over these past few years for the promotion
of the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the Asian region, and stressed
the importance of promoting cooperation to magnify the socio-economic development
to an even greater extent among all of the FNCA countries.
4. In Session 2 on Report from Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) and
Progress of FNCA Activities, Mr. Bunro Shiozawa, Deputy Director General
of the Cabinet Office of Japan, reported the outcome of SOM held the day
before, and Dr. Sueo Machi, Commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission
of Japan, and FNCA Coordinator of Japan, reported on the prospects and
developments in regard to FNCA activities starting with the future direction
of those activities accepted in SOM. Chairman of this session H. E. Mr.
Sun Qin, Chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, China, commented
that a comprehensive range of activities are being actively carried out
in twelve projects in eight fields with remarkable results, and future
prospects are anticipated. He also confirmed the importance of the objectives
of the Panel on "the Role of Nuclear Energy for Sustainable Development
in Asia", which give thought to the sustainable development of the
Asian region amidst forecasts a huge increase in the demand for energy
in the Asian region in the future, and praised the favorable progress being
made, and expressed expectations for the second panel slated to be held
in Japan on January 25th and 26th next year.
5. Session 3 was a Round Table Discussion Session which was the place
for the participating representatives from each country to discuss about
issues common to the region and exchange opinions on the active measures
to be taken for the resolution. Two topics were discussed this year.
(1) Deliberation on topic 1: Human Resources Development (HRD) in
Asia was moderated by H.E. Dr. Le Dinh Tien, Vice Minister of Science and
Technology (MOST) of Viet Nam. Dr. Machi of Japan gave a lead-off speech
on the progress of the deliberation of the concepts of an Asia Nuclear
University (ANU) proposed by Viet Nam last year. He explained that the
concepts had been undergone discussions at the HRD workshop held September
13-16, 2005 and at SOM the day before and the result was the proposal of
Asian Nuclear Training and Education Program (ANTEP), which is an organically
linked network for making effective use of existing educational and training
resources in the field of nuclear energy in all of the participating countries.
Chairman Tien summarized the round table discussion as follows: 1) the
meeting praised the efforts of concerned peoples made with a view to materialize
the proposal of Viet Nam and accepted the basic concept, the way to proceed
from here on in making the concept materialize, and the schedule as proposed,
revising the description of Objectives of ANTEP to "To train scientists
and engineers of nuclear power technology, and radiation / isotope application
in medicine, industry and agriculture, and experts in social science fields
including public communication and finance, within the FNCA member countries:
due attention should be paid to the importance of including Master and
Doctor programs in universities : 2) FNCA coordinators were requested to
submit the report about contributions and needs of each country to the
Secretariat by the end of next January while discussing it with the HRD
project leaders: 3) March coordinators meeting should discuss how to proceed
the ANTEP based on the report: 4) the results of deliberation should be
submitted to the next MM.
(2) Deliberation of topic of Science and Technology and Nuclear Energy
was moderated by Dr. Kondo of Japan. Mr. Matsuda of Japan gave the lead-off
speech on the topic. The delegates praised the insight and forward-looking
characteristics of the speech. Triggering by a question about how Japan
seemingly has overcome the difficulties in obtaining the public understanding
of nuclear power in spite of the suffering of atomic bomb, several proposals
and experiences to overcome the difficulties of public acceptance of nuclear
power, including education and the identification of compelling reason
like security and mitigation of global warming, were discussed. It was
proposed for FNCA to recognize the significance of the Nobel peace prize
awarding to the IAEA in the context of need for efforts to pay due attention
to the dual nature of nuclear energy mentioned in the lead-off speech.
The proposal was accepted with consensus.
After conclusion of the session, Mr. Matsuda of Japan mentioned the importance
of dialogue among ministers for science and technology policy in Asia.
The Hon.Y. B. Datof Sri Dr. Jamaludin Bin Mohd Jarjis, Minister Ministry
of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of Malaysia, expressed his
support to the idea. Several ministers also concurred to this idea. Mr.
Matsuda of Japan expressed his gratitude to the comment and promised to
consider the discussion held here.
6. In Closing Session, Chairman Kondo summarized the Meeting with
his appreciation to the participants for cooperation. Dr. Jamaludin of
Malaysia invited the ministers from all of the countries to the Seventh
Meeting, which is planned to be held in that country. The invitation was
welcomed by the Meeting.
7. Mr. Matsuda of Japan expressed gratitude for the contributions
by all of the representatives from each of the participating countries,
and the meeting was adjourned.
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