Vienna, Sept. 15 (SANA)International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) Director GeneralRafael Mariano Grossisaid Monday that “historic” progress had been achieved in Syria regarding safeguards issues, saying the development followedSyria’s cooperation and transparency, alongside the efforts of the agency.

In a statement delivered before the 70th regular session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Grossi said that a year earlier he had informed the conference about his meeting in Damascus with President Ahmad al-Sharaa, after which developments began regarding a safeguards issue that had remained unresolved for nearly two decades.

Grossi said the agency obtained the information and access needed from Syria and evaluated available safeguards-related information, allowing it to clarify and resolve outstanding questions related to Syria’s previous nuclear activities.

He added that he visited last month a site in Deir Ezzor that the agency had previously assessed as a building destroyed in 2007 and likely a nuclear reactor under construction. He said Syria was required to declare the site to the agency under its safeguard’s agreement related to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Grossi’s remarks followed a meeting in Damascus on July 14, when President Ahmad al-Sharaa received the IAEA director general and his accompanying delegation at the People’s Palace, in the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad al-Shaibani and Director of the Atomic Energy Commission Mudhar al-Akleh.

Grossi had earlier said on Jan. 23 that the Syrian government’s efforts to close the file concerning the ousted regime’s nuclear activities were “positive and constructive” in comments to the UAE newspaper The National in English on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

During Syria’s participation in the 69th session of the IAEA General Conference held in Vienna last September, the Syrian Arab Republic affirmed its commitment to developing cooperation with the agency and its readiness to address outstanding files in a responsible manner.