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Russia looking forward to cooperating with new members of IAEA Board of Governors

The board will be electing a new IAEA director general after former IAEA leader, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano passed away in summer

VIENNA, September 19. /TASS/. Russia is looking forward to fruitful cooperation with new members elected to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Permanent Representative of Russia to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said on Thursday.

"We welcome new IAEA Governors from Estonia, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Kuwait, Mongolia, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia. We count on close cooperation with them in the Board of Governors, including in the process of elections of a new Director General," he wrote on his official Twitter page.

"We would like to thank for cooperation the outgoing IAEA Governors from Armenia, Chile, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Sudan and Venezuela, whose tour of duty in the Board of Governors expired," he added.

The Board of Governors saw its new members elected in the course of the 63rd IAEA General Conference in Vienna. It is the board that will be soon tasked with electing a new IAEA director general after former IAEA leader, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano passed away. The following candidates are in the run to become IAEA Director General — IAEA Acting Director General Cornel Feruta (Romania), Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Rafael Grossi (Argentina), Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization Lassina Zerbo (Burkina Faso), and head of Slovakia's Nuclear Regulatory Authority Marta Ziakova.

Each candidate needs to secure the support of a majority of governors. The new head of the IAEA will be elected and appointed in October, assuming their duties no later than January 1, 2020.