29 Jan 2018

Botswana has noted with a high degree of satisfaction the achievements attained in the areas of technical co-operation, nuclear safety, safeguard and security, says Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Alfred Madigele.

Speaking at the signing ceremony of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Country Programme Framework (CPF) for Botswana, Dr Madigele said  the agency’s technical cooperation programme which has been a driving force in the use of nuclear technology for development had delivered positive impact in areas such as animal health, human health and nutrition as well as radiation protection.

He said  this is the third country programme framework for Botswana ever since it became a member state of the IAEA in 2002 citing that the two previous country programme frameworks were signed in Vienna, Austria and that this is the first to be signed in Botswana.

Dr Madigele said there were major achievements in the last Country Programme Framework which included the establishment of the Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring Laboratory, establishment of Satellite Veterinary Laboratories, capabilities in nuclear and isotopic analytical techniques in chemical food contaminants.

“Human resource development was also achieved through trainings, meetings and workshops in various sectors such as human health, food and agriculture, radiation safety and security,” he said.

Dr Madigele noted that through this CPF, both Botswana and IAEA made a commitment that the Technical Cooperation between Botswana and the agency continued throughout 2018 to 2022 adding that the CPF had been aligned to the country’s National Development Plan 11, Vision 2036 and the Sustainable Development Goals as this was meant to ensure that projects developed were aligned to national priorities for sustainable development and increased impact.

He said under the new CPF in the agricultural sector, assistance for development of the required capabilities for the control of animal diseases and food safety would continue and in human health, continued cooperation was envisaged to establish radiotherapy and nuclear medicine facilities in the public sector.

On the other hand, he said  the use of stable isotope techniques to assess national nutrition intervention campaigns, including iron fortification would be further supported.

In water resource management, the minister said that groundwater resource in selected areas in line with NDP 11 would be assessed using isotope hydrology techniques and cooperation in the field of energy planning would aim at contributing to the development of a national integrated energy plan. ENDS