VIENNA, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - The board of
governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will
meet to elect a new director general at a session in Vienna on
Thursday.
The term of the current IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who
has headed the agency since 1997, ends in November 2009. The
66-year-old ElBaradei, who together with the watchdog was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, has signaled that he
will step down when his term of office ends.
The 35-nation board will meet in a closed session. The two
frontrunners are Japan's IAEA ambassador, Yukiya Amano, and
South Africa's envoy, Abdul Samad Minty, both need to secure a
two-thirds majority to win the vote.
Insiders say that Amano, whose candidacy is reported to be
backed by the U.S. and some EU states, is the favorite for the
four-year post over Minty, although neither is expected to
garner the required two-thirds majority, which could mean the
contest is thrown open to a new candidate.
The vote comes at a crucial time for the nuclear watchdog
involved in stalled investigations in Iran and Syria and
high-profile monitoring of North Korea's nuclear disarmament
program.
In a recent report speech made to the IAEA board of
governors on March 2 ElBaradei said that watchdog, charged with
promoting the peaceful and safe use of nuclear technology, is
continuing to monitor and verify the dismantling of North
Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor, but said that despite
numerous efforts there had been no progress in investigations
into Iran's nuclear activity.
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