China on Friday hailed the Nobel Peace Prize win by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director-general, Mohamed Elbaradei, and pledged continued support to the UN nuclear watchdog.

At a special meeting of the IAEA board held Vienna, Wu Hailong, China's delegate to the agency, said that the IAEA and ElBaradei's winning of the award is an important milestone in the organization's history of development. It is the pride of the IAEA, ElBaradei and all the member countries of the organization.

During the past 50 years, the IAEA, as the only inter-governmental international organization dealing with nuclear issues, has unswervingly carried out its duties, unremittingly boosted peaceful utilization of nuclear power, prevented the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and thus made great contributions to the peace and development of the world, Wu said.

The IAEA has also done a lot in promoting the health and prosperous development of human beings through the utilization of nuclear energy and nuclear technology, and in getting developing countries to share the fruits of such technology, which has won universal approval from the international society and its member countries, Wu noted.

The Nobel peace prize marks the greatest recognition to the outstanding work of the UN nuclear watchdog and its chief, and they are fully worthy of the honor, Wu said.

With the advent of the 21st century, mankind faces unprecedented opportunities and challenges, and the IAEA has a long way to go in fulfilling its mission to prevent nuclear proliferation and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, Wu noted.

The Chinese government will continue to give full support to the work of the IAEA, and is confident that with the joint efforts of member countries and the secretariat, the IAEA is sure to make greater contributions to world peace and development, Wu added.

At Friday's special meeting of the IAEA board, 35 member countries discussed the award and decided to use the 10 million Swedish crowns (1.07 million US dollars) from the award to fund the needs of developing countries in the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy, especially to help develop these countries' health and food production sectors.

The board also authorized ElBaradei to set up a special fund to see to the use of the money.

The IAEA and ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to prevent the use of nuclear energy in the military field and to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the Nobel Committee announced in Norway's capital Oslo last Friday.

Source: Xinhua