Dr Hans Blix

Ambassador Hans Blix is a Distinguished Associate Fellow with SIPRI. He has extensive experience as a diplomat, politician and author. From 1963 to 1976, Dr Blix was Head of Department at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and served as Legal Adviser on International Law. From 1961 until 1981, he was a member of Sweden's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, while from 1962 to 1978 he was a member of the Swedish delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. In 1976, Dr Blix served as the Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in charge of international development cooperation. He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in October 1978, serving in that position until 1979.

Following his tenure as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Dr Blix was named Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He served in that position from January 2000 until June 2003.