CAIRO: Egypt and Kuwait are hopeful that the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy will help promote better energy developments in both countries. According to a joint statement from the governments, the new agreement is for “cooperation in the field of nuclear energy usage and techniques with catastrophes and emergency radiation cases.” The MoU was signed by Kuwait's Health Ministry Undersecretary for Technical Affairs Khaled Al-Sahlawi and the head of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) Mohammad Al-Qelli. In comments published by Kuwait's KUNA news agency following the signing ceremony, Sahlawi said the cooperation accord would “contribute in upgrading skills of the Kuwaiti personnel in the domain of using the nuclear energy.” The EAEA, according to the memo, will organize training courses, workshops for Kuwaiti cadres, namely doctors and medics, on coping with catastrophes and emergency radiation accidents for protecting installations and personnel in the two countries, Sahlawi added. Kuwait's Ministry of Health has been, since three years ago, training doctors and medics for acting in incidents and accidents of radiation leakage, he said, also indicating at Kuwait's cooperation with the United States and the World Health Organization (WHO) at this level. On reasons that prompted Kuwait to seek cooperation with Egypt in this sector, Sahlawi noted that the EAEA was established in 1955 and have made strides in this vital sector since then. Qelli said the agreement symbolized the persistent “spirit of cooperation” bounding Kuwait and Egypt. Nuclear energy can be used for various peaceful purposes, he said, indicating at the necessity of educating staff about safe movement of radioactive materials and disposing waste in a manner, friendly to the environment. BM
