IAEA Board of Governors Meeting – Agenda Item 2 – Program Performance Report for 2020-2021
U.S. Statement as Delivered by Ambassador Laura S.H. Holgate
Vienna, Austria, September 12, 2022
Chair,
Before we turn to this agenda item, the United States congratulates you on your recent appointment as Board Chair and welcomes you to Vienna. Given your extensive diplomatic experience and significant nuclear non-proliferation expertise, the United States welcomes your valuable contributions to the Board and the IAEA. We look forward to working with you.
Chair,
The United States lauds the Secretariat’s continued efforts during the 2020-2021 biennium to strengthen the results-based approach it adopted in 2000 and has since applied to the planning, implementation, assessment, and accountability of IAEA programs. In particular, we note the Agency’s ability to rapidly adapt its working methods to continue delivering critical programmatic activities despite the unique challenges faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This adaptability included coordinating meetings of the Secretariat’s policy making organs using technological innovations that still complied with the rules of procedure but did not compromise the Agency’s effectiveness.
We commend the Agency for its continued work and effort to increase the number of countries that have finalized a Country Program Framework (CPF), which remain the main strategic planning tool for the development of national technical cooperation programs and through which Member States can address the Sustainable Development Goals. We note that in the biennium years of 2020 and 2021, an additional 30 CPFs were finalized and signed, bringing the number of valid CPFs to 116 by the end of 2021. Recognizing the need to promote participation by new Member States in the TC program, we support Agency efforts to build awareness of and participation by developing countries in these assistance programs.
We appreciate the Director General’s vision that places great emphasis on interdepartmental coordination and collaboration and reinforces the Agency’s “one-house approach” in program management. Implementation of cross-cutting initiatives such as the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Program, the SMR platform, and Nuclear Technology for Controlling Plastic Pollution during the prior biennium highlight ways in which the Agency is expanding its reach within its approved programmatic framework. These successful activities create the opportunity for more dynamic integrated projects being undertaken in the current biennium such as the Rays of Hope initiative, which advances the Agency’s ability to make a greater impact in addressing global health challenges. We look forward to continued efforts to strengthen Agency activities in the aforementioned areas and also on issues such as resource mobilization and gender equality.
Of course, any results-based management approach must always remain a work in progress. We fully support the Secretariat’s continued work toward a full accountability program with increased transparency, more qualitative performance indicators, and more objective measurement of impact, including by assessing progress and performance against expected results.
With these comments, the United States takes note of the Program Performance Report for 2020-2021.
Thank you, Chair.