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Thank you Madam Chair
New Zealand would like to thank the Director General for the report before us on the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Syrian Arab Republic. We would also like to thank DDG Heinonen and the Safeguards team for the technical briefing they provided on the report last week.
We are disappointed that there has been no progress on the outstanding questions raised at previous Board meetings, including on the discovery at Dair Alzour of anthropogenic uranium particles of a type not included in Syria’s declared inventory of nuclear material and unlikely to have been introduced by the missiles that destroyed the site.
Madam Chair
New Zealand notes the Agency’s conclusion that its ability to confirm Syria’s explanation regarding the past nature of the destroyed building at Dair Alzour is severely impeded because Syria has not provided sufficient access to information, locations, equipment or materials. We also note the Agency’s advice that Syria’s obligations under its Safeguards Agreement to provide access to information, activities or locations related to the Dair Alzour site are not limited simply because they may be military related.
New Zealand calls on Syria to be more cooperative and transparent in its provision to the Agency of information about and access to the Dair Alzour site and the three other locations.
Madam Chair
We note that the Agency has performed a physical inventory verification at the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor facility in Damascus and that the Agency took environmental samples as well as samples from the materials which Syria has stated are the source of the anthropogenic natural uranium particles found there last year. New Zealand looks forward to the results of the analyses of these samples and encourages Syria to cooperate fully with the Agency to clarify the presence and origin of the particles found at the facility in Damascus.
Given the significance of the questions that remain unresolved, we believe that the Board must remain seized of the issue. We therefore request the Director General to continue his investigations and report back at the next meeting.
In the meantime, New Zealand calls on Syria to take up the Agency’s expression of readiness to work out modalities for managed access that would enable Syria to protect sensitive and confidential information that is not relevant to the Agency’s mandate, while enabling the Agency to perform its verification mission.
[Finally Madam Chair, New Zealand would support the call by Canada and Australia for the public release of the report on Syria.]
Thank you Madam Chair
