The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week effectively selected an Argentine diplomat as its new director general.
The Board of Governors for the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday officially appointed Rafael Mariano Grossi to be director general, after he received a majority vote in closed balloting Tuesday — 24 of 35 board members, according to an IAEA press release.
Grossi still needs final approval from the 171-member IAEA General Conference. If so approved, he would start a four-year term on Dec. 3.
Grossi is Argentina’s envoy to the IAEA, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and other international organizations in Vienna, Austria. He had served in that role since 2013. The career diplomat, with some 35 years of foreign service experience, was previously an IAEA chief of staff.
Since ballotting started in September, Grossi has outlasted three competitors for the IAEA leadership position: Cornel Feruta of Romania, Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso, and Marta Ziakova of Slovakia. On Tuesday, Grossi beat out the other finalist for the job, Feruta.
Grossi would be IAEA’s sixth chief since the group’s formation in 1957.
The IAEA’s fifth director general, Japan’s Yukiya Amano, died in July. He took office in December 2009 and was reappointed twice prior to his death. Grossi, 58, had served as Amano’s chief of cabinet.
The International Atomic Energy Agency promotes peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear nonproliferation.
