Paris, March 09: Syria would like to develop civilian atomic energy, its government said Tuesday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told an international conference on civilian nuclear power in Paris that Damascus needs “to consider alternative sources of energy, including nuclear energy.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the conference on Monday with a call for many more countries to adopt nuclear power to produce electricity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ease pressure on energy prices.
But Syria’s candidacy for the nuclear club will cause particular concern, given the still unanswered questions over an earlier alleged attempt to build a reactor in secret.
The International Atomic Energy Agency complained last year that Damascus had refused to cooperate with its investigation of a remote desert site called Dair Alzour, which was illegally bombed by Israel in September 2007.
Inspectors have found traces of uranium at the site, as well as at a nuclear research reactor in Damascus.
France is now spearheading moves to bring Syria out of diplomatic isolation and persuade it to distance itself from Tehran.
“Syria benefited from the peaceful application of nuclear energy in many fields such as health and medicine, scientific research, etc. However more is needed, including international cooperation in these areas,” Mekdad said.
“We appreciate the position of President Sarkozy that the peaceful application of nuclear energy should not be monopolised by the few who own this technology but that it should be available equally to all countries.”
—Agencies