The United States considers that the Argentine Rafael Grossi is the "perfect candidate" to lead the UN nuclear agency

[Inkriql]

The US Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, considers Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi as "a perfect candidate" to lead the IAEA, the UN nuclear agency, as he declared in Vienna on Monday.

The American official arrived in Austria to participate in the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), immersed in a process to elect its next CEO after the death on July 18 of the Japanese Yukiya Amano.

In a meeting with journalists, the head of the Energy portfolio was asked if the US looks favorably on an Argentine candidate, whose government is promoting the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant in the country with technology and financing from China, Washington's rival in several fronts

Perry said that was no problem for him, and praised Grossi's profile as a nuclear matter expert.

"He is someone who understands the different complexities of the world in which we live," he said of the Argentine candidate.

"You have someone who is respected by China, is obviously respected by South and Central America and has a substantial level of support from the US. To me, it sounds like a perfect candidate," he said.

Asked if those words assume that the US supports the Argentine's candidacy, Perry did not speak up and said that the important thing for Washington is to have the right person to lead the IAEA soon.

"We need to have a leader in the position, because there are many great issues before us. An experienced person who knows the situation well. That this is not lengthened (the choice) is the true message I give," he said.

"We need a CEO soon, there are a lot of challenges waiting outside. Not having a CEO managing this huge amount of challenges is problematic," he said.

In the case of being elected in the coming weeks by a two-thirds majority of the 35 member countries of the Board of Governors of the UN nuclear agency, Grossi, 58, would become the first Latin American to hold the position.

The IAEA, with its more than 2,000 employees, is the technical entity responsible for ensuring atomic security in the world. Among its many delicate tasks is to verify whether Iran complies with what was agreed in the 2015 nuclear agreement with six major powers, which the United States unilaterally abandoned last year.

Iran has begun to breach parts of that agreement to force European signatories - Germany, France and the United Kingdom - to offer the economic advantages that the pact provided if Tehran limited its nuclear program voluntarily.

Grossi, the current ambassador of Argentina in Austria, was between 2009 and 2013 deputy director for IAEA political affairs, competing for the position with three candidates, including Romanian Cornel Feruta, current acting general director.

The other two candidates are Slovakian Marta Ziakova, director of the country's nuclear regulatory body, and Lassina Zerbo, of Burkina Faso, executive secretary of the Organization of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.