Ghana’s Ambassador to Austria Philbert Johnson elected chair of International Atomic Energy Board

Ghana’s Ambassador to Austria and the Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Philbert Abaka Johnson has been elected as the Chairperson of the IAEA’s Board of Governors for 2024-2025.

Philbert Abaka Johnson also doubles as the Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations offices and other International Organisations in Vienna. Since his appointment in 2020, he has chaired the 54th Session of UNCITRAL, the Subsidiary Body 3 of the 10th NPT Review Conference, the FINGOV and the Vienna-based African Group.
He is currently serving as the Chair of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and Co-Chair for the preparations of the Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science, Application and Technology and Technical Cooperation in 2024.

As a career diplomat with almost 30 years of experience, Ambassador Johnson’s first diplomatic assignment was in Liberia in 1995. He has since served in multiple Ghana Missions in Switzerland, the Russian Federation, Belgium, Canada and New York and has held numerous positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, including as the first Director of the Diaspora Affairs Bureau in 2014.

Before his appointment in Vienna, he was the Director of Africa and Regional Integration Bureau and Head of the ECOWAS National Office from 2019 to 2020 and made immense contribution towards Ghana’s bid to host the AfCFTA Secretariat and the establishment of the ECOWAS Early Warning Centre in Accra.

Ambassador Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, as well as two master’s degrees: a Master’s of International Affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs & Diplomacy (LECIAD) in Ghana, and a Master’s of International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute in Switzerland. He has participated in various courses on leadership and diplomacy and was the recipient of the Best Ghana Diplomatic Mission Award for 2024.

Ambassador Johnson is optimistic of consolidation the tenets of the IAEA and steer the affairs of the Board in a positive and impactful direction. He takes over from Ambassador Holger Federico Martinsen of Argentina.

 

The post Ghana’s Ambassador to Austria Philbert Johnson elected chair of International Atomic Energy Board first appeared on 3News.

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