Kigali, 18^th July, 2022- Rwanda hosted the 33^rd African Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) Technical working meeting and high-level seminar on building regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety in compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The event was held at Marriot hotel bringing together all stakeholders from various countries related to this specific area.  Officiated by the Minister of infrastructure, Honourable Dr. Ernest NSABIMANA, the meeting highlights the role of nuclear technology in socio-economic development of the countries. “The objective here is to raise awareness among decision makers and high-level planners on the need to develop a comprehensive national regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety.

Minister emphasized on deepening engagements to continuously tackle nuclear science and technology by injecting resources in this specific area.  He argues member countries new and existing ones advocate and have same understanding on the benefits of investing in nuclear technology.

Rwanda benefits from nine (9) regional projects under the AFRA program whereby these  projects focus on capacity building, technology and knowledge transfer in various fields, including nuclear safety, nuclear applications to enhancing crop productivity and climate-resilient agriculture, strengthening food contaminant detection and monitoring, improving the quality of radiotherapy and radiation medicine, radioactive waste management and the regulatory infrastructure for the control of radiation sources as well.

This is a good timing for the meeting participant to explore how to reinforce the project design process to ensure its alignment with their country program framework and national development priorities to enhance complementarity between regional and national projects.

AFRA is an intergovernmental platform established by Africa Member State to further strengthen and expand the contribution of nuclear science and technology to socio-economic development on the African continent. Its scope of activities covers a wide range of peaceful application of nuclear techniques that are meant towards the achievement of national and regional development goals. It also coordinates strategic partnership between  Africa and the IAEA which provides technical support to regional projects in the field of nuclear sciences and engineering, applied to various development sectors such as Energy, health, Agriculture, Industry, Environment and Water Resources.

The meeting brought together, African countries such as Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.