Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, will represent the Italian Government today at the Nuclear Energy Summit jointly organised by the Belgian Government and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The meeting, at the level of Heads of State and Government, will be co-chaired by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, and will focus on the role played by nuclear energy in reducing fossil fuel use, strengthening energy security and promoting economic development.
“With the ‘National Platform for a Sustainable Nuclear Power’ set up by Minister Pichetto Fratin, the Italian Government has launched a process to assess whether it is appropriate to resume the use of nuclear energy in Italy, also with a view to achieving the 2050 decarbonisation targets and to increasing the security and sustainability of energy supplies. We want to bring together the many national initiatives, favouring the development of technologies with a low environmental impact and with high standards of safety and sustainability, focusing above all on new sustainable nuclear technologies. Despite not having a nuclear programme in operation since 1987, Italy boasts excellence in the sector that is recognised worldwide, both at the industrial level and in the field of scientific research”, said the Deputy Prime Minister.
As a pioneer in the field of nuclear energy, Italy has never ceased to be an important international player in the nuclear sector, both through its industrial excellences that provide high-level skills, technology and services worldwide, and in different areas of research, most notably the development of energy from nuclear fusion.
On the sidelines of the event, Minister Tajani will hold a number of bilateral meetings.