Pakistan becomes chair of IAEA board

Western powers did not oppose Pakistan's nomination by a group of Middle East and South Asia member states.

VIENNA: Pakistan became the new chair of the UN nuclear watchdog's governing body on Monday, despite being outside a global anti-nuclear arms pact.

Western diplomats have suggested they do not see the choice as ideal because, like India, North Korea and Israel, Pakistan has shunned the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that is at the heart of the International Atomic Energy Agency's work.

But Western powers did not oppose the nominee of a group of Middle East and South Asia member states at a meeting of the IAEA board which approved the choice by acclamation, one diplomat who attended the closed-door session said.

Pakistan is a longstanding member of the Vienna-based IAEA and the choice was within its rules.

The one-year board chair position rotates between regions, who put forward their own nominee, and entails chairing debates of the IAEA's 35-nation decision-making body and helping them reach consensus decisions.

It does not give Pakistan individual powers to decide UN nuclear policy. Malaysia currently chairs the board.

Heaping pressure on Pakistan, a high-level UN meeting called on Friday for talks to start immediately on a treaty to ban production of fissile material used as fuel for atom arms.

Pakistan has insisted it will continue to block such talks, arguing that a ban would put it at a permanent disadvantage to India. The dispute has led to deadlock at the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.