[en] First, I would like to thank the IAEA and OECD for sponsoring this conference and the government of China for hosting the conference. It gives me great pleasure to address this conference. This is a very important conference dealing with nuclear power in the 21st century. Sudan as a developing nation experiences an increase in the energy demand of its people. This is due to an increase industrialization and urbanization. Sudan with the assistance of the IAEA has initiated a planning study for long term energy supply and demand. This study showed that by the year 2020 an energy gap between energy supply and demand will occur. According to this study Sudan need to consider the nuclear option as part of an energy mix. Accordingly, Sudan with the help of the IAEA has started a technical cooperation program aiming at understanding the necessary infrastructure needed for a nuclear power program. To implement this program two committees were formed. A technical committee to address the technical requirement for the project and a high administrative committee to give the necessary political support. Utilizing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes requires strong commitment towards issues of safety, security and safeguards of nuclear and radioactive material. As part of the infrastructure requirement, in Sudan we started the amendments of the legal and regulatory framework. A new atomic energy act is being drafted. The most important features of this act are that: It provide for the establishment of a separate independent regulatory authority which will deal with all regulatory aspects of radioactive sources and nuclear material. The act also covers areas like emergency preparedness, nuclear security, liability and others. The legal requirement of nuclear program is the adherences to certain international legal instrument. A national committee from the ministries of justice, foreign affairs and science and technology was formed to advice on the country position regarding the required legal framework. A nuclear power program requires a highly trained manpower. We started on some programs that would lead to the creation of the critical manpower required for this undertaking. Under Sudan academy of Sciences we implemented M.Sc. programs on: Radiation protection; Nuclear instrumentation and electronics; Nuclear Science and technology. A bachelor degree in nuclear engineering will start soon at Sudan university of Science and Technology. To support these educational programs and to train more in areas like reactor operation, reactor engineering and reactor physics, Sudan has discussed with the IAEA the possibility of acquiring a zero power reactor which will help as a training tool for the needed scientists and engineers. However, considering the nineteen issues under the three mile stones for the preparation of the necessary infrastructure required for a knowledgeable decision on the introduction of nuclear power, there are areas need to be addressed by the international community. An assured supply of fuel which is not subjected to discriminative measures apart from purely technical ones is still controversial. The spend fuel processing and the waste management is also a gray area. Further the availability of small and medium reactors that suit better the capacity on grids in developing country is far from available. By this allow me to conclude my speech and I wish the conference all the success. Thank you for your attention.