Profile: Yukiya Amano

Analysts describe Mr Amano as a reserved technocrat

Although born after the 1945 US atomic strikes on Japan, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano has said those events make him determined to oppose nuclear proliferation.

In an interview in the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, the new head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said he was "resolute in opposing the spread of nuclear arms because I am from a country that experienced Hiroshima and Nagasaki".

The veteran diplomat has held senior arms control posts in Japan and was Tokyo's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before being elected as its next director-general.

Mr Amano, 62, graduated from the Tokyo University Faculty of Law and joined the Japanese Foreign Ministry in April 1972.

He held increasingly senior positions in the ministry, notably as director of the science division, director of the nuclear energy division and deputy director general for arms control and scientific affairs.

Non-proliferation

In 2002 he was appointed director general for arms control and scientific affairs and two years later he became director general of the disarmament, non-proliferation and science department.

His work has included postings at Japanese embassies in Washington, Brussels, Geneva and Vientiane, Laos.

He took part in arms control talks that produced the 1995 extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the verification protocol for the 2001 Biological Weapons Convention.

Iran's nuclear plans are high on the IAEA's agenda

Most recently Mr Amano has been Tokyo's representative to the UN nuclear agency.

He served as chairman of the IAEA's policy-making board of governors in 2005-06 when the agency and its director-general Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Amano accepted the prize on behalf of the agency.

Analysts say he is regarded as a reserved technocrat who will seek to de-politicise the top IAEA post in contrast to his sometimes outspoken predecessor.

Mr Amano has said he will stick to the IAEA's technical mandate of inspections to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons, while fostering the use of nuclear energy for economic development and medicine.

He has also said he wants to improve communication between the IAEA inspectorate and its governors, and will manage the agency better.

Commentators say Mr Amano is close to the US position on Iran, which is under IAEA investigation over suspicions that its nuclear energy programme is a facade for work on atomic weapons, a claim Tehran denies.

In February 2009 he said that Iran should be treated with respect through fruitful dialogue.

He went on to praise US President Barack Obama's readiness to engage in talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.