Japan’s Amano Elected As Next IAEA Director-General
Written by NucNet
Thursday, 02 July 2009
Japan’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, has been elected as the agency’s next director-general.
Mr Amano’s election this afternoon, following a closed meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors in Vienna, was announced on the IAEA’s Twitter website.
The IAEA said board chair Taous Feroukhi reported that 23 votes were in favour of Mr Amano, with 11 against and one abstention.
Mr Amono’s appointment will now be submitted for approval at the IAEA’s General Conference in September 2009.
Mr Amano was among five finalists nominated for the post, the others being Luis Echavarri of Spain, Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa, Ernest Petric of Slovenia and Jean-Pol Poncelet of Belgium. Mr Poncelet and Mr Petric withdrew their nominations before today’s meeting, the IAEA said.
The term of office of the outgoing director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, ends on 30 November 2009. Mr ElBaradei has served as director-general since 1997 and had said that he was not available for a fourth term of office.
