The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met this week with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano concerning the four nuclear power plants currently being built in the Gulf Arab state.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Amano talked about how the nation can gain more technical expertise from the IAEA to nurture its fledgling nuclear program.
The nation's first nuclear reactor is expected to be operational sometime next year, with the others set to be up and running by 2020.
Al Nahyan told Amano that this partnership is important to him and his nation and said the UAE is willing to collaborate with IAEA to ensure the nation uses nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes and participates in global non-proliferation efforts.
The UAE leader also applauded the agency’s ongoing efforts to spread nuclear technology on a worldwide scale to spur global sustainability and development.
The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil suppliers, but plans for nuclear energy eventually to make up a quarter of its domestic energy production, of which natural gas now makes up 99 percent.
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