I"A BOARD FOR 1999-2000 ELECTS CHAIRMAN

Press Release
IAEA/1338

IAEA BOARD FOR 1999-2000 ELECTS CHAIRMAN

VIENNA, 4 October (IAEA) –- At its first meeting today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors for 1999-2000 has elected the Governor of Brazil, Mr. Sergio de Queiroz Duarte as its Chairman. Ambassador Queiroz Duarte is the Resident Representative of Brazil to the IAEA and international organizations in Vienna.

Governors from Finland and Slovakia were elected as Vice-Chairmen. They are Ambassador Tom Grönberg, Resident Representative of Finland to the IAEA and international organizations in Vienna, and Mr. Miroslav Lipár, Chairman of the Slovakian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

Member States represented on the IAEA Board for 1999-2000 are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States, and Uruguay.

Presently, there are 35 member States in the Board. The forty-third General Conference of the IAEA, which concluded 1 October 1999, adopted a resolution to expand, in the future, the Board’s membership to 43 member States, taking into account the increase of membership from developing countries. The resolution involves an amendment to the IAEA Statute (Article VI). It, thus, requires acceptance by two-thirds of all the members in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures.

Before the amendment comes into force, it will require adoption by the Board of Governors, and confirmation by the General Conference, of a list of all member States, whereby each such State is allocated to one of the eight areas identified in Article VI.A.1 of the Statute. After the expansion, IAEA Board membership will include 18 member States designated by the Board as the most advanced in nuclear technology in the eight different areas; 22 member States elected by the IAEA General Conference with due regard to equitable representation on the Board from among the eight areas; and three further member States from among the Board members in the areas of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and South Asia, and Latin America. (See the IAEA’s WorldAtom Internet services at for the full text of the resolution.)

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