Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency

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The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
AbbreviationIAEA BoG
Formation29 July 1957(68 years ago) (29 July 1957)
Type Intergovernmental organization
Legal statusActive
Headquarters Vienna, Austria
Chair
Holger Federico Martinsen
Parent organization
United Nations Security Council
Staff2,500 [1] (2023)
Award(s) Nobel Peace Prize (2005)

The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is one of the two policy making bodies of the IAEA, along with the annual General Conference of IAEA members.

Contents

The Board is responsible, 'inter alia', for approving safeguards agreements and for approving publication of IAEA safety standards. The Board appoints the IAEA Director General, subject to approval by the General Conference, and makes recommendations to the General Conference on the IAEA's program and budget.

The Board generally meets five times per year: in March and June, twice in September (before and after the General Conference) and in November. [2]

Membership

The Board consists of 35 IAEA Member States, each with a single vote. Thirteen are designated by the previous Board as being either among the ten countries most advanced in atomic energy technology or the most advanced from any of the eight regional groups not represented by the first ten.

Twenty-two Board Members are elected by the IAEA General Conference to two-year terms, eleven each year, and twenty IAEA member states are elected to the Board by the General Conference based on the following geographic distribution:

Regional groupMembers
Latin America5
Western Europe4
Eastern Europe3
Africa4
Middle East & South Asia2
Southeast Asia & Pacific1
Far East1
Total20

Two additional members are also elected, one from each of the following sets of areas: [3]

  1. rotating among Africa, Middle East and South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific
  2. rotating among Middle East and South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, Far East.

A list of the current 35 members can be found at the IAEA Board of Governors webpage, and were for the period 2023–2024: [2] Algeria, Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Namibia, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay and Ukraine.

List of Chairs

Name [4] NationalityTerm
HE Mr Ian Biggs [5] Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia2025 – 2026
HE Ms Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman [6] Flag of Ghana.svg Ghana2024 – 2025
HE Mr Holger Federico Martinsen [7] Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina2023 – 2024
HE Mr Ivo Sramek [8] Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czechia2022 – 2023

List of Vice-Chairs

NameNationalityTerm
HE Ms Emilia Kraleva [9] Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria2023 – 2024
HE Mr Peter Potman [9] Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands2023 – 2024
HE Mr Eoin O'Leary [10] Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland2022 – 2023
HE Mr Carlos Sérgio Sobral Duarte [10] Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil2022 – 2023

References

  1. IAEA (2023). "Employment". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  2. 1 2 IAEA (2023-10-02). "Board of Governors". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  3. IAEA Statute Article VI, IAEA, accessed on 2012-10-07, Paragraph A
  4. IAEA (2023). "Previous Board Chair: 1957 to Present". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  5. IAEA (2024-09-25). "IAEA Board of Governors Elects New Chairperson for 2025-2026". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  6. IAEA (2024-09-25). "IAEA Board of Governors Elects New Chairperson for 2025". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  7. IAEA (2022-10-02). "IAEA Board of Governors Elects New Chairperson for 2023-2024". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  8. IAEA (2022-10-03). "IAEA Board of Governors Elects 2022–2023 Chairperson from Czech Republic". iaea.org. IAEA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  9. 1 2 IAEA (2023-10-02). "Board Of Governors". iaea.org. IAEA. Archived from the original on 2023-10-10. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  10. 1 2 IAEA (2022-10-03). "Board Of Governors". iaea.org. IAEA. Archived from the original on 2022-10-20. Retrieved 2023-10-14.