Luis Echavarri, the head of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in Paris, confirmed Today that he was Spain's official candidate to follow Mohamed ElBaradei as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), dpa reported. Echavarri told the German Press Agency dpa that the Spanish government had formally deposited his candidature at the IAEA on Wednesday. The race to succeed Elbaradei at the helm of the Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog began again in late March, after neither Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano nor South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty got the necessary majority among the 35 countries on the IAEA board in a first session of voting. Since 1997, the Spaniard Echavarri has served as Director General of the NEA, which is the nuclear energy branch of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of industrialized states. "I know about policies, but I also know about technical issues," he said, pointing to his long experience cooperating with the IAEA and the nuclear industry. Among other potential candidates is the Malaysian top nuclear official Noramly Muslim, whose government said it was considering his nomination. Slovenia is set to field Ernest Petric, the country's former ambassador to the IAEA, according to media reports. ElBaradei is to retire from his post in November, after 12 years at the helm of the nuclear agency.
