On February 12, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan who is in Austria on a working visit met with Rafael Grossi, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Hakob Vardanyan, the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia also participated in the meeting.

Minster Mnatsakanyan noted that Armenia, being an advocate of peaceful use of nuclear energy, attaches great importance to the cooperation with the IAEA. The sides highly appreciated the effective cooperation between Armenia and IAEA and expressed their readiness to make joint efforts to outline new horizons of cooperation and to make full use of the existing  potential.

In the course of the meeting, the sides touched upon a number of issues on the agenda of cooperation between Armenia and  IAEA, in particular the issues of operational safety of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (MNPP), development of nuclear energy and issues of nuclear safety. The IAEA Director General highly appreciated ongoing reforms implemented by Armenia aimed at increasing security in the sphere of nuclear energy. 

The Minister emphasized the importance of peaceful use of nuclear energy in terms of economic development and energy security of Armenia. In this context, the two sides underscored effective cooperation between Armenia and the Agency on peaceful use of nuclear energy in the field of healthcare.

In the context of peaceful use of nuclear energy, the interlocutors exchanged views on international and regional developments.