IAEA chief not to attend Ukraine peace summit

Grossi said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"No, I will not be participating directly," Grossi said, commenting on whether he will participate in the Peace Summit in Switzerland.

He explained that the decision not to participate in the summit was the IAEA's desire "not to mix pitical considerations with our technical job."

"In terms of being very prudent in our approach and not mixing pitical considerations with our technical job, we are not going to be present there [at the Peace Summit]," Grossi said.

At the same time, he added that he "was in touch" with Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko during preparations for the summit and held a meeting this week with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

"I expressed to the Swiss Foreign Minister the expectation that the re of the agency will be discussed and that the importance and the strengthening of its independent technical work will be supported," Grossi said.

The first Peace Summit will officially start on Saturday afternoon in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock with 100 delegations participating – 92 countries and 8 international organizations. Several delegations arrived the day before. Ukrainian President Vodymyr Zelensky arrived on Friday evening.

The complete list of participants was only made public the evening before the summit. Some countries that had not yet made a decision did so at the last minute. In particular, there was considerable uncertainty regarding the participation of representatives from Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, the UAE, India, and Turkey. Ultimately, the first four decided to send their representatives at the level of envoys, while New Delhi and Ankara decided to send their foreign ministers.

Out of 92 countries, 57 are represented by heads of state and government, 29 by foreign ministers, and 6 by envoys. This can be considered a success, given the considerable efforts made by Moscow to prevent the conference from taking place.

Photo: D. Calma/IAEA