The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday effectively selected an Argentine diplomat as its new director general.
Rafael Mariano Grossi received a majority vote in closed balloting by the Board of Governors for the U.N. nuclear watchdog – 24 of 35 members, according to an IAEA press release.
Grossi would receive formal appointment from the board Wednesday at a board meeting open to all IAEA member states, the release says. The Board of Governors decision will then go to 171-member IAEA General Conference for final approval.
Grossi is Argentina’s envoy to the IAEA, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and other international organizations based in Vienna, Austria. He had served in that role since 2013, The Associated Press reported.
In recent weeks, he outlasted several competitors in balloting for the IAEA leadership position, on Tuesday overcoming Romania’s Cornel Feruta by 10 votes.
The new director general would serve for a four-year term starting Jan. 1, 2020. Grossi would be the organization’s sixth chief since it was formed 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, according to AP.
The International Atomic Energy Agency promotes peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear nonproliferation.
