21. March 2024.
Nuclear Energy Summit 2024 starts in Brussels

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic and the Minister of mining and energy, Dubravka Djedovic are participating in the first Nuclear Energy Summit which has started today in Brussels, Belgium. “Today is an important day for us to understand the shortcomings of the decisions we have been bringing for the past three or four decades.The importance attached to this Summit points at the imminent shortage of energy we will face in the future. In other words, we will not be able to survive without nuclear energy,” said the President Vucic in his today’s address before the start of this event

He also indicated three key points related to the use of nuclear energy and stressed that the Republic of Serbia is currently facing insufficiency in professional capacities and financial means for the implementation of projects in the field of nuclear energy applications.

“The Republic of Serbia primarily needs support and exchange of experience in the preparation and implementation of new legislations in the field of nuclear energy application”, added the President Vucic.

The first global Nuclear Energy Summit at Head of State and Government level, organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Kingdom of Belgium, will gather the world leaders. For the first time, the delegations from thirty countries including the industry representatives, heads of research centres, experts and the civil society representatives will gather to discuss the role of nuclear energy in addressing the global challenges to reduce the use of fossil fuels, enhance energy security and boost economic development.

It has been confirmed that this historic event, in addition to the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic will be attended by the high-level representatives of Armenia, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden, that will speak on the nuclear energy applications.

the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi stated this morning, before the Summit opening, that there has to be every effort made to increase the inclusion of nuclear energy in the energetic transition and the process of decarbonization.

Upon his arrival at the Summit, he stated that the world leaders consider the use of nuclear energy as the issue of fundamental importance and pointed at the role of nuclear energy as an extraordinary asset in keeping the energy in Europe clean.

The Summit comes in the wake of a historic inclusion of nuclear energy in the Global Stocktake agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai in December 2023, which called for accelerating its deployment along with other low carbon energy sources.

The key role of nuclear energy in reaching net zero and promoting sustainable development will be addressed by the high-level representatives from the following countries: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. There will be four panel discussions during the Summit on the topic of innovations in the field of nuclear technology and establishment of a level playing field in terms of finances. It is expected that the Summit will be closed with the adoption of the Nuclear Energy Declaration.

You can follow the speech of the President Vucic at the first Nuclear Energy Summit on the following link.