Staff Correspondent

 A Bangladeshi delegation led by Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam held a bilateral meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.

During the meeting, Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam sought IAEA support for the rapid integration and transmission of electricity from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) into Bangladesh's national grid. Emphasizing the project as a milestone for national energy security, the minister highlighted the completion of fuel loading in Unit-1 as a major step toward low-carbon power generation. 

Reflecting on Bangladesh's recent signing of the Country Programme Framework (CPF) for 2026–2032, Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam noted five decades of IAEA technical assistance across health, agriculture, food, water management, industry, and energy sectors. He reaffirmed Bangladesh's commitment to international safety standards, citing its status as South Asia's first signatory to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

The minister expressed gratitude for IAEA's "Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All" initiative, which Bangladesh joined in 2025 to establish an integrated one-stop cancer care center and strengthen national oncology services ahead of the upcoming IAEA–WHO–IMPACT Review Mission in November 2026. 

The meeting was attended by Science and Technology Secretary Md. Anwar Hossain, Bangladesh Ambassador and Permanent Representative to Vienna Toufiq Hasan, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr. M. Moinul Islam, and Joint Secretary Sheikh Muhammad Tauhidul Islam.