The European Union and its Member States reaffirmed their support for the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) technical cooperation activities, emphasising the need for coordination with other UN agencies and efficient use of resources, in a statement delivered on 9 June 2026 at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna.
The statement, delivered on behalf of the EU and its Member States, with 11 additional countries aligning, welcomed the Technical Cooperation Report for 2025 and reiterated longstanding support for the Agency's technical cooperation programme. The EU highlighted the role of technical cooperation in helping Member States, especially least developed countries, use nuclear science and technology to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The EU welcomed the Director General's continued efforts in advancing flagship initiatives: Rays of Hope, ZODIAC, Atoms4Food and NUTEC Plastics. It noted the successful organisation of the 2025 Rays of Hope Forum in Ethiopia and the International High-Level Forum on NUTEC Plastics in the Philippines, which strengthened international partnerships. The EU underlined the importance of ensuring coordination between these initiatives and other technical cooperation activities with other UN agencies, based on country ownership and national priorities. It suggested further synergies with Horizon Europe, the EU's key funding programme for research and innovation, particularly in food safety and security and sustainable solutions. The EU also recalled that, together with Sudan, the EU Delegation is currently co-chairing the Group of Friends of Food Security in Vienna, encouraging all IAEA Member States to join.
The EU commended the Agency's efforts to strengthen human capacity-building through youth outreach, specialist schools, postgraduate support and legislative assistance, as well as support for Agency missions and peer reviews. It also welcomed continued efforts to enhance technical cooperation among developing countries and triangular cooperation.
The EU commended the IAEA's commitment to integrating gender perspectives into technical cooperation programme planning, design, implementation and evaluation, and encouraged continued active advancement of gender equality and gender mainstreaming.
The EU reiterated the importance of a stronger focus on the actual needs of all Member States, taking into account the particular challenges faced by least developed countries, and supported the demand-driven and non-discriminatory nature of the Technical Cooperation Programme. It welcomed that health and nutrition, food and agriculture, and safety and security continue to represent the largest areas of technical cooperation programme disbursement in 2025.
In times of financial constraints, the EU welcomed the Agency's efforts to achieve a more effective and efficient Technical Cooperation Programme, encouraging further prioritisation of initiatives and projects, further in-house cooperation and coordination, and further transparency to avoid duplication. It noted the Agency's efforts to improve project design, quality monitoring and evaluation, including through verifiable and transparent indicators.
Contributions from EU Member States and the European Commission together amounted to more than €26 million in 2025. EU Member States remain among the major contributors to the Agency's Technical Cooperation Fund, along with extra-budgetary contributions and in-kind support from the European Commission. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre supports, for example, the development of nuclear innovative cancer treatments, access to radioligand therapy in IAEA Member States, production of certified reference materials, and joint research work on marine litter. The EU encouraged further resource mobilisation also from non-traditional donors.
The EU took note of the reports under consideration of this item.