Leena Al-Hadid appointed as new Chairperson of IAEA Board of Governors

Ambassador Al-Hadid is Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna.

The IAEA Board of Governors elected by acclamation Ambassador Leena Al-Hadid of Jordan as the Chairperson of the IAEA's Board of Governors for 2018–2019. Her one-year term commences today. She replaces Ambassador Darmansjah Djumala of Indonesia.

Ambassador Al-Hadid is Jordan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna.

She joined the Jordanian Foreign Service in 1995 and during her career has served as Political Officer at the Private Office of Jordan's Foreign Minister, Diplomatic Attaché and Alternate Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna from 1996 to 2000, and Political Officer at Jordan's Mission to the European Union in Brussels from 2002 to 2004.

Ambassador Al-Hadid has represented her country as the Chief Diplomatic Human Rights Officer at Jordan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva from 2004 to 2006 and was Jordan's Deputy Consul General in Dubai from 2009 to 2014.

Before her current appointment in Vienna, she served as Director of the International Relations & Organizations Department from 2014 to 2018, which entailed, among other tasks, close intergovernmental cooperation and coordination regarding the refugee crisis.

Ambassador Al- Hadid has a Bachelor's degree in Law from the University of Jordan in Amman.

During the one-day session, the Board of Governors also elected the two Vice-Chairs, Governor of Armenia Arman Kirakossian and Governor of Belgium Ghislain D'Hoop.

Eleven countries have been newly elected to serve on the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors for the period 2018-2020. The election took place on Thursday 20 September at the plenary session of the IAEA General Conference. The newly elected Board members are the following: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, Italy, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Sweden, Thailand, and Uruguay.

For the 2018-2019 period, the new composition of the 35-member IAEA Board is as follows: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Niger, Pakistan, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, the Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.