The IAEA Board of Governors elected by acclamation Ambassador Mikaela Kumlin Granit of Sweden as the Chairperson of the IAEA’s Board of Governors for 2019–2020. Her one-year term commences today. She replaces Ambassador Leena Al-Hadid of Jordan.
Ambassador Kumlin Granit is Sweden’s Resident Representative to the Agency and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, as well as Ambassador to Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia.
She is a career diplomat who joined the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1994. Prior to taking up her current assignment, she was Deputy Director General and Head of the Department for European Affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2012–2018).
Ambassador Kumlin Granit has held a number of important posts including Foreign Policy Adviser in the Cabinet of the President of the European Council (2010–2012) in Brussels and Director and Foreign Policy Adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister of Sweden (2007–2010).
She served as First Secretary at the Embassy in Washington (1999–2004) and as Second Secretary at the Swedish Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe (1997–1999).
She holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Stockholm University (1992) and is fluent in English, French and German.
During the one-day session, the Board of Governors also elected by acclamation the two Vice-Chairs, Governor of Azerbaijan Galib Israfilov and Governor of Egypt Omar Amer Youssef.
Eleven countries have been newly elected to serve on the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors for the period 2019–2020. The election took place on Thursday 19 September at the plenary session of the IAEA General Conference.
The newly elected Board members are the following: Estonia, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Kuwait, Mongolia, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay and Saudi Arabia.
For the 2019–2020 period, the new composition of the 35-member IAEA Board is as follows: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Uruguay.