The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, in a special meeting on January 28, 2025, elected Ambassador Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman as the Chairperson of the IAEA’s Board of Governors for a term which expires in September 2025.

She succeeds Ambassador Philbert Abaka Johnson of Ghana.

She will complete the remainder of the term of office of her predecessor, Ambassador Philbert Abaka Johnson of Ghana, who was elected in September 2024.

Ghana was elected as a member of the Board in September 2024 for a 2-year term (2024-2026).

Functions of the Board of Governors of the IAEA

The Board of Governors is one of the two policy-making bodies of the IAEA, along with the annual General Conference of IAEA member states.

The Board examines and makes recommendations to the General Conference on the IAEA’s financial statements, programme and budget. It considers applications for membership, approves safeguards agreements and the publication of the IAEA’s safety standards. It also appoints the Director General of the IAEA, with the approval of the General Conference.

Meetings

The Board generally meets five times per year: in March and June, twice in September (before and after the General Conference) and in November.

Profile of the newly-elected Chairperson

Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman has been a career diplomat serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for over twenty-five (25) years. She has held various positions at home and abroad assisting in both bilateral and multilateral issues in respect of Ghana’s Foreign Policy.

Prior to her appointment in Vienna, Ambassador Osei-Agyeman served as Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Ambassador in the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana to Italy from 2023 to 2024. She has also served in diplomatic postings in the United Kingdom, Malta, the United States of America and at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ambassador Osei-Agyeman has also held numerous posts in Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, including, most recently, serving as Director of the Europe Bureau from 2021 to 2023 and as the first Director of the Candidatures Portfolio in 2021, where she ensured effective advocacy resulting in Ghana’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2022 and 2023.

Other assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ghana included her role as the Deputy Chief of Protocol (2013-2016); Personal Assistant to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007-2008); Assistant Director of the Multilateral Cooperation Bureau, (2006-2007); Assistant Director at the following Bureaux: Americas, Policy Planning and Research, as well as Information, Culture and Linguistic, respectively (1999-2002).

As far as other diplomatic postings are concerned, Matilda has also served at the Ghana High Commission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2017-2020); the Ghana High Commission in Valletta, Malta (2016-2017); Ghana’s Diplomatic Mission in Washington D.C.(2008-2012); and at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland with responsibility for some UN Agencies in both Geneva and Vienna, Austria (2002-2006).

Ambassador Osei-Agyeman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Ghana and a Master of Arts in international affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs & Diplomacy in Ghana. She has also participated in various courses on leadership and diplomacy.

She also holds certificates in various fields such as Strategic Economic Diplomacy, Promotion of Trade and Investment, UN sustainable development goals; drafting UN Resolutions; Women’s Leadership; Conflict Analysis & Mediation; Child Labour issues; and Climate Change Peace and Security.

Mrs. Osei-Agyeman is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of French.