ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Vienna on Tuesday and witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement designating Pakistan’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (INMOL), Lahore, as an IAEA Collaborating Center.

The meeting took place at the Vienna International Center, home to several UN agencies. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Grossi signed the Collaborating Center Agreement on behalf of Pakistan and the IAEA, respectively. The IAEA chief presented a plaque formally designating INMOL as a Collaborating Center, in a ceremony witnessed by Sharif.

“The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for IAEA’s role in the promotion of responsible use of nuclear technology in areas such as cancer diagnosis and treatment, agriculture, nuclear power generation and industrial applications,” said a statement circulated by Sharif’s office in Islamabad.

“He praised the strong partnership between Pakistan and the IAEA, while observing that Pakistan was not only a beneficiary of the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Programme but was also contributing to the work of the IAEA through the provision of its experts and conducting international trainings for IAEA Member States,” it added.

The statement said Grossi acknowledged Pakistan’s experience and expertise in the peaceful uses of nuclear technology and commended the quality of its engineers, scientists and technicians.

He maintained Pakistan was well placed to assist other IAEA member states in expanding peaceful nuclear applications and expressed interest in Pakistan’s participation at the Nuclear Energy Summit scheduled in France in March 2026.

The IAEA chief visited Pakistan last year to review cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology, including cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well as applications in energy and agriculture.

His engagements included visits to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission cancer hospitals, inauguration of advanced treatment facilities and discussions with Sharif on expanding collaboration under the IAEA’s “Rays of Hope” initiative aimed at improving radiotherapy access in developing countries.

’POLYCRISIS’
Sharif also addressed a special event at the United Nations Office in Vienna, calling for sustainable and inclusive development to be treated as the world’s foremost conflict-prevention strategy, warning that overlapping geopolitical tensions, climate stress and technological disruption are converging into a global “polycrisis.”

“Our world stands at crossroads,” Sharif said. “We face intertwined crises. The defining danger of our time is not any single threat, rather it’s the combination of many.”

“Geopolitical hostility, climate stress, and technological disruption are all converging into a single destabilizing force,” he added. “The planet is facing a moment of polycrisis.”

Sharif argued that sustainable and inclusive development was the most effective long-term strategy to prevent conflict, stressing that developing nations bore the heaviest burden of climate change despite contributing the least to global emissions.

“Pakistan’s own experience is illustrative,” he said. “We stand at the front lines of the climate crisis, not through any fault of ours, but as one of its most disproportionate victims.”

He said Pakistan, which contributes less than one percent of global emissions, continues to face severe climate impacts, including devastating floods in recent years that destroyed homes, farmland and infrastructure.

Sharif also called for strengthening multilateral institutions, including the United Nations system, to better address emerging global challenges and ensure that innovation and new technologies benefit all countries rather than deepen existing divides.