Chair,  

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following countries align themselves with this statement: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Norway and Ukraine. 

The EU thanks the Director General for the update provided on Syria in his opening statement and the Secretariat for its tireless efforts to address the implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in Syria. 

We support the Director General’s engagement with Syria. We welcome the process of clarification of the outstanding safeguards issues that was launched last year, through Agency visits and access to three sites related to the Deir Ezzor site. The recent contacts between the Syrian transitional Government and the IAEA are further steps in the right direction.  

The EU calls upon Syria to engage constructively with the IAEA on all outstanding issues related to the Assad regime’s nuclear activities, notably by providing it with the necessary information and cooperation. We agree with the DG that clarifying these issues remains essential for Syria to demonstrate its commitment to non-proliferation. In this regard, we welcome the immediate and unrestricted access to relevant sites granted by the Syrian transitional Government’s President during the DG’s recent visit. This enables the IAEA to conduct further verification activities.  

We reiterate our call on Syria to conclude and bring into force the Additional Protocol without further delay. 

We request the Director General to keep the Board of Governors timely informed of any developments and maintain this item on the Board agenda.  

Thank you, Chair.