Vienna - The International Atomic Energy Agency's next head Yukiya Amano on Monday stressed that the IAEA must balance its dual role in nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear energy, shortly after he was appointed to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei from December. "Merely being a 'nuclear watchdog' does not suffice," the Japanese diplomat said at the annual IAEA General Conference.
The meeting of all IAEA member states unanimously approved Amano, who in June had narrowly won the majority at the agency's governing board after a protracted election process.
"The spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism is an increasing threat for the international community," owing to the ease with which technology advances and knowledge spreads, Amano said.
The 62-year-old diplomat who until recently served as ambassador to the IAEA called on countries to fully cooperate with the IAEA's inspection regime, but did not mention countries with controversial nuclear programmes such as Iran, Syria and North Korea.
But Amano made clear he also intended to focus on promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the fields of electricity, medicine, food production and other areas.
"Nuclear power generation can be an option to meet the increasing needs of energy without emitting significant amounts of green house gas," he said.
The statement seemed to be address especially developing countries among the IAEA member states, who were sceptical about the nomination of Amano as a candidate of industrialized countries.
Turning to the future, Amano expressed hope that the IAEA would one day play a role in verifying nuclear disarmament.
"I trust that he will lead the agency with vision, impartiality and courage," ElBaradei told the General Conference.
ElBaradei is set to retire at the end of November after 12 years in office.
