(Extract  of the ‘joint communiqué” signed during the official visit of the  President of Argentine Republic, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to the Federative Republic of Brazil)

On 29 July 2011, the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and the President of the Argentine Republic, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, held a working meeting in Brasilia. On that occasion, both Presidents addressed the items on the bilateral, regional and multilateral agenda and discussed the status of implementation of the projects considered to be a priority within the framework of the Brazil-Argentina Bilateral Integration and Coordination Mechanism (MICBA)

President Dilma Rousseff and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner:

Reaffirmed their commitment to the values and principles set forth in the Joint Presidential Declaration of 31 January 2011.

In reaffirming the strategic nature of the dialogue, coordination and trust achieved in the bilateral nuclear field, they welcomed the twentieth anniversary of the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC), which, for many years now, has been conclusively demonstrating the commitment of both countries to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes only.

Both Presidents welcomed the recent recognition by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) of the fact that the ABACC’s existing safeguards agreement provides the highest guarantees as regards nuclear safeguards and ratifies the right of any country with peaceful aims, such as Argentina and Brazil, to have unlimited access to exchanges relating to the development of the technologies that are most relevant to their respective nuclear programmes. Furthermore, they stressed the progress made in cooperation projects within the context of the Binational Commission on Nuclear Energy (COBEN), especially the project on joint development of multipurpose research reactors.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner thanked the Brazilian Government and People, on her own and her Delegation’s behalf, for their hospitality and the messages of appreciation and friendship received during her visit to Brazil.

Brasilia, 29 July 2011.