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Turkmenistan becomes IAEA member

17 September 2015 13:30 (UTC+04:00)
Turkmenistan becomes IAEA member

By Aynur Karimova

Central Asian neutral state Turkmenistan has become a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The country was admitted to the organization after the 59th session of the General Conference of the IAEA in Vienna passed a relevant resolution by unanimous vote, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported.

Member-states of this organization praised Turkmenistan's commitment to the principles of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world, including in Central Asia.

The session noted that Turkmenistan as a member of the IAEA will be fulfilling all its commitments and tasks and act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

The IAEA is the world's leading forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear technology created within the United Nations in 1957. It aims to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Turkmenistan has worked with the IAEA since 2005, when the agreements on the application of guarantees in relation with the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the Additional protocol to this agreement were signed in Vienna.

Turkmenistan committed itself to provide international experts with the accounting of nuclear and ionizing materials as well as precision equipment, which uses nuclear and ionizing on an annual basis.

Such long-term cooperation has positively affected mutual cooperation in between Turkmenistan and the IAEA.

Experts believe that joining the IAEA has no controversial stance and it does not violate the Central Asian nation's internationally recognized neutrality principle as a membership in such an institution is profitable for this country to protect itself from possible future crises.

"The IAEA is an international organization that does not represent any military bloc. So, Turkmenistan does not lose anything by joining it. It actually gains admission to a large international group dedicated to keeping the world safe from nuclear weapons and nuclear war," Bruce Pannier, the expert on Central Asia and Senior Correspondent at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty told AzerNews earlier.

Holding the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran, and Qatar and being one of the key players in the energy market of the resource-rich Caspian region, Turkmenistan intends to diversify its energy export markets. In this context Ashgabat's willingness to cooperate with international organizations can be viewed as a kind of policy protecting itself from all possible challenges.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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