Mr Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Mr Rafael Mariano Grossi is Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Mr Grossi is a diplomat with over 35 years of experience in the field of non-proliferation and disarmament. In 2013, he was appointed Ambassador of Argentina to Austria and Argentine Representative to the IAEA and other Vienna-based International Organizations.
2022 John Gee Memorial Lecture
In 2019, Mr Grossi acted as President-Designate of the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and from 2014 to 2016 he served as president of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, where he was the first president to serve two successive terms. In 2015, he presided over the Diplomatic Conference of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, securing unanimous approval for the Vienna Declaration on Nuclear Safety – a milestone in international efforts in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
From 2010 to 2013, he served as Assistant Director-General for Policy and Chief of Cabinet at the IAEA. Previously, he held several senior positions in the Argentine Foreign Service, including as Political Affairs Director-General from 2007 to 2009.
Mr Grossi was Chief of Cabinet at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague from 2002 to 2007. Prior to this, he held several positions within the Argentine Foreign Ministry after joining in 1985, including Chief of Embassy in Belgium and Luxembourg from 1998 to 2002, and Argentine representative to NATO from 1998 to 2001 and Argentine Alternate Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Ambassador Grossi led several UN Groups of Governmental Experts on Conventional Arms.
Since 2017, Mr Grossi has been an International Gender Champion, promoting gender balance in the nuclear field.
About John Gee
Dr John Gee AO served with distinction as an Australian diplomat in a number of countries. His greatest contribution, however, was in the field of disarmament, where he had a particular interest in chemical weapons. After a period as a Commissioner on the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq following the first Gulf War, he became Deputy Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, serving there until 2003. In recognition of his achievements, Dr Gee was made a member of the Order of Australia in January 2007. Gee leaves behind a legacy and a memory of a great Australian.
This is the fourteenth lecture in the John Gee Memorial series which began in 2007.