ISLAMABAD: Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will visit Pakistan next week, the foreign office said on Thursday, to meet key political leaders, attend seminars and visit nuclear power generation sites.
Pakistan was a founding member of the IAEA in 1957. Last year, it was elected to the IAEA’s board of governors for a two-year term. This is Pakistan’s 21st term on the board.
During next week’s visit, Grossi will call on Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his deputy Ishaq Dar, as well as attend seminars at the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the National University of Sciences and Technology. He will also visit the Anmol Hospital in Lahore and the Chashma Nuclear Power Generating Stations, 250 kilometers south of Islamabad.
“The visit reaffirms Pakistan’s deepening partnership with IAEA on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology and at fostering social economic development of the country,” the FO spokesperson said at a weekly briefing.
Pakistan and the IAEA cooperate on various issues like climate change, food security, agriculture, water, medicine, and nuclear safety and security.
Pakistan currently operates six nuclear power reactors at two sites that generate about 10 percent of the country’s total and almost a quarter of its low-carbon electricity.
