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Minister for Foreign Affairs
I met with Dr ElBaradei on 16 February. Dr ElBaradei, who also met with
the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment separately on the
same day, was in Dublin to receive an Honorary Patronage of the Trinity
College Philosophical Society.
In the course of our meeting I raised a number of issues in Dr
ElBaradei's particular area of responsibility, including recent
developments with regard to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),
the Iranian nuclear programme, and the US-India civil nuclear
cooperation agreement.
On the DPRK, we both welcomed the agreement addressing its nuclear
programme reached earlier that week at the Six Party Talks in Beijing.
This positive development is of particular importance to the IAEA, whose
inspectors will now be able to return to North Korea's nuclear
facilities after a prolonged absence to carry out their vital monitoring
and inspection work. Dr ElBaradei was recently in the DPRK to discuss
the practicalities of implementing the agreement. He indicated
subsequently that the visit had been useful and had opened the way to a
normal relationship.
In relation to Iran, Dr ElBaradei's visit was particularly timely as it
came one week before the issuing of his report on Iran in accordance
with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737. During our meeting
he shared his perceptions of the main outstanding issues with respect to
the Iranian nuclear programme and his sense of how the process was
developing and what lay ahead. We agreed on the importance of a
negotiated solution to this issue and, in this connection, he referred
to his own proposal for a time-out or double suspension as a possible
way of enabling the commencement of negotiations with Iran. Dr ElBaradei
has subsequently issued his report confirming Iran's failure to comply
with Resolution 1737 and it is anticipated that the Security Council
will adopt a follow-up resolution in the near future.
With regard to US-India civil nuclear cooperation, I shared my concerns
about the potential impact of the agreement on the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the disarmament and non-proliferation
regime it established. Dr ElBaradei gave his perception, which was
somewhat more positive, focussing on the development and environmental
aspects of the deal. These views are in line with his previous public
comments on this matter. The negotiation of an Indian safeguards
agreement with the IAEA is one of the further steps required before the
US-India deal can be implemented. These negotiations, however, have yet
to begin.
In sum, the meeting offered a valuable opportunity for an exchange of
views on some of the more significant and topical issues in the field of
disarmament and non-proliferation. |
