Singapore has joined more than 100 countries in being a signatory to the Additional Protocol (see Note 1)  to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. The Additional Protocol between Singapore and the IAEA was signed on 22 September 2005 at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna.

2      Mr Burhan Gafoor, Permanent Representative of Singapore in Geneva and Governor on the IAEA Board of Governors, signed the document on behalf of Singapore, and Mr Mohamed El Baradei, Director-General of the IAEA, signed on behalf of the IAEA.

3      With the successful conclusion of the Additional Protocol between Singapore and the IAEA, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources will work with the relevant agencies to put in place the necessary measures to meet Singapore’s obligations under the Protocol.  Under the Protocol, States are required to provide the IAEA with information covering all aspects of their nuclear and nuclear fuel cycle activities, if any. This is for the purpose of verifying that nuclear material, if any, is not diverted from peaceful uses to the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

4      Singapore’s signing of the Additional Protocol underscores its strong commitment to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Note 1: The Additional Protocol is a supplementary agreement that builds on the safeguards agreements that non-nuclear-weapon state parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), have individually concluded with the IAEA.  It was developed in 1997 to strengthen the IAEA’s ability to verify non-nuclear-weapon state parties’ compliance with the NPT.