IAEA Re-Appoints ElBaradei as Director-General

IAEA Board Re-Appoints Elbaradei to Third Term As Director-General

New York, Jun 13 2005 5:00PM

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today re-appointed Mohamed ElBaradei as Director-General of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency for another four year term.

At a press briefing in Vienna after his election, Dr. ElBaradei said he would continue to hold high impartiality and independence – core principals and values of international civil service. This will be his third term as IAEA Chief.

"My colleagues and I are committed to do our very best to protect ourselves against the dissemination of nuclear weapons; and against poverty. We will continue to work with the members of the international community to see a world free from nuclear weapons," Dr. ElBaradei said, according an IAEA statement.

The appointment will be submitted for approval at the IAEA General Conference, which opens 26 September 2005 in Vienna. Dr. ElBaradei is the IAEA's fourth Director General since 1957. He was first appointed to the office effective December 1997, and reappointed to a second term in 2001. He follows Hans Blix, IAEA Director General from 1981 to 1997; Sigvard Eklund, IAEA Director General from 1961 to 1981; and Sterling Cole, IAEA Director General from 1957 to 1961.

Separately, the IAEA said the Board of Governors' annual session also intends to discuss the Safeguards Implementation Report for 2004, and a report by the Director-General on the implementation of safeguards in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

ENDS

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