Vienna, Sept 26, IRNA – The 60th General Conference of the IAEA officially opened at the Agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on Monday.

At the week-long meeting, IAEA Member States will deliberate on the Agency's work in the previous year, set priorities and review budgetary matters.

In his opening address to the Conference, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano reported on the IAEA's performace and achievements since the last General Conference and also marked the major achievements of the Agency in these 60 years.

Member States representatives will also discuss and approve the 2015 IAEA Annual Report. They will consider other budgetary and financial matters, including contributions to the Technical Cooperation Fund for 2017, the Agency's audited Financial Statements for 2015 and Member States' scale of the assessments for contributions towards the Regular Budget for next year, said a report on the IAEA's website.

Delegates will discuss issues related to nuclear security, strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of IAEA safeguards, the implementation of the safeguards agreement between the Agency and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the application of safeguards in the Middle East.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi as well as AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi arrived in Vienna on Sunday to attend the Conference.

By IRNA