19 April 2018

Información para la Prensa N°: 160/18

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), established in 1958 as the European Nuclear Energy Agency and later renamed NEA in 1972.

Argentina was the first South American country to become a member of the NEA in September 2017. Argentina's OECD membership underscores our country's regional leadership in the development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and its track record as a responsible and safe exporter of that technology.

The NEA is an intergovernmental body within the OECD which seeks to promote cooperation among countries with nuclear technology infrastructures. The NEA's mission is to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international cooperation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally sound and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

The NEA's current membership comprises 33 countries which cooperate through joint research activities and the development of standards and good practices in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

An Argentine delegation headed by the Undersecretary for Foreign Policy of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen, participated in the commemorative ceremony, as well as in the activities of the Agency's Steering Committee.