Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja: International nuclear safety cooperation must be intensified
Press release 243/2011
22 September 2011
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, together with the President of the Republic, attended the High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security convened by the UN Secretary General in New York on 22 September.
The nuclear accident in Fukushima was the underlying reason for the meeting. The Secretary General aims, among other things, to determine the preparedness of the UN system to deal with the situations created by nuclear accidents and threats to nuclear safety at the international level, and to develop the capacity of the system and the whole international community in this regard. The meeting was held in two parts, one for Heads of State and Government and the other at ministerial level.
In his statement, Foreign Minister Tuomioja stressed that the tragic accident in Fukushima emphasises the importance of improving both nuclear safety culture and international regulation. Safety systems and requirements must be kept up-to-date and developed continually. Nuclear accidents affect all countries and therefore we must be prepared at national level but also by intensifying international cooperation. In the end we must also ask whether the international legal system concerning nuclear safety norms needs to be reassessed.
Additional information: Ambassador Pekka Ojanen, tel. +358 40 743 1576, Minister Counsellor Johanna Karanko, tel. +1 917 294 3927