Remarks by Ambassador-at-Large Grigory Berdennikov, head of the Russian delegation, at the Diplomatic Conference of the Convention on Nuclear Safety during the adoption of the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety, Vienna, February 9, 2015

Mr President,

I would like to start by congratulating and thanking the President of the Conference, Ambassador Rafael Grossi for his efforts in preparing this successful, fruitful and important international forum. We are confident that under your leadership the Conference will meet the expectations of all its participants.

Russia welcomes the commitment of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) to reach consensus at this Diplomatic Conference. We believe that only with such an outcome can we expect that decisions adopted at this forum will be consistently implemented by all Conference participants.

We appreciate extensive efforts deployed by CNS Contracting Parties during working consultations, which started back in April 2014. It was on the back of these efforts that the best solution for formalising the results of the Diplomatic Conference was found.

Let me emphasise that the draft declaration prepared by the Contracting Parties to the Convention encompasses a number of important ideas rooted in the experience of creating and operating NPPs. Russia has contributed its know-how to developing this project.

We note that one of the main outcomes of the Diplomatic Conference for Russia is that the integrity of the Convention on Nuclear Safety has been maintained. The risk of Contracting Parties splitting their ranks has been successfully overcome, which makes us confident that the Convention will be efficiently implemented moving forward.

We assume that after the adoption of the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety all parties to the Convention will focus on practical efforts to implement national initiatives aimed at comprehensively enhancing nuclear safety and preparation for the seventh meeting of CNS Contracting Parties, which is expected to be held in March-April 2017.

We would also like to highlight Switzerland's role in initiating the process, which led to the convening of this conference and eventually paved the way to its positive outcome, thereby strengthening the Convention on Nuclear Safety and promoting efforts of all participating countries in this respect.

Thank you, Mr President.