Veteran Argentine diplomat Rafael Mariano Grossi took over Tuesday as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Grossi, 58, will become the sixth director general of the United Nations organization, which promotes the peaceful use of nuclear technology and the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons technology and materials. He will serve a four-year term after winning unanimous confirmation Monday from the 171-member International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference, according to a press release.
After a month of secret balloting among its members, the IAEA Board of Governors sent Grossi’s appointment to the General Conference on Oct. 31. Of the board’s 35 members, 24 approved Grossi to succeed Japan’s Yukiya Amano, who died in July. Amano took office in December 2009 and was reappointed twice prior to his death. Grossi had served as Amano’s chief of cabinet from 2010 to 2013.
Grossi was also, since 2013, Argentina’s envoy to the IAEA, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, and other international organizations in Vienna, Austria.
The IAEA has an annual budget of roughly $610 million in 2019, according to the group’s website. The group’s general conference, which meets once a year, includes all nearly 200 member states. The group’s board of directors includes 22 member states. The U.N. does not have direct control over the IAEA.
In prepared remarks to the IAEA General Conference on Monday, Grossi said he would try to raise more money for the international nuclear watchdog.
“Our technical cooperation programme has made a huge contribution over the decades,” Grossi said. “But the needs of developing countries are great and they expect us to do much more.”
To that end, Grossi said he would “lead the Agency in moving out of our comfort zone and seeking new and innovative sources of funding wherever I can.” Those could include “new forms of partnership with other international organisations, regional organisations, banks and major international companies,” Grossi said.
