India Beats Germany, UK and Turkey to Bag IAEA External Auditor Job

India has been elected as the external auditor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a prestigious institution that promotes peaceful use of nuclear energy, for a period of six years from 2022 to 2027 after beating Germany and the United Kingdom among other counties. India’s comptroller and auditor general GC Murmu was selected as the external auditor of IAEA and the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said his candidature received majority support of the IAEA general conference. The MEA has said that the election is a “recognition” of India’s standing in the international community and global acknowledgement of the CAG’s credentials, professionalism and experience. “The CAG’s bid received majority support of the IAEA General Conference for the position for which several competing bids were submitted from different countries,” it said in a statement.

In the first round of voting for the post, Germany got 36 votes, India 30, the UK eight, Russia 11, Turkey 9, Egypt 20, Republic of Korea 2 and the Philippines 7 votes. The second round boiled down to the race between India and Germany with India managing to beat the European country. Russia and the United Kingdom along with China, France, and the United States are the five permanent members of the UNSC with India among the 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.

The total number of ballots cast was 125 as there were 2 abstentions, 123 were present and voting with the required majority being 62. India was the IAEA external auditor from 2012 to 2015.

Murmu took charge as the comptroller and auditor general of India on August 8 last year. Before that, he served as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Murmu also served in various capacities in the government—as secretary of the department of expenditure, special and additional secretary in the department of financial services and department of revenue.

The 65th Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference was held from September 20 to 24 in Vienna. Throughout the week, the organisation held 80-plus events on nuclear topics. IAEA is the world’s centre for cooperation in the nuclear field, promoting the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Source: HT

Image Courtesy: Reuters