In this episode of “Foreign Policy,” podcast Editor-in-Chief Sofia Babkina is joined by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Is multilateral diplomacy in decline? What distinguishes the IAEA from other international organizations? How is the work of the IAEA structured? What does Russia bring to the IAEA table? Why does DG Grossi believe in multilateral diplomacy? What do IAEA Director General Grossi and Odysseus have in common?

Guest: H.E. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Host: Ms. Sofia Babkina, Research Fellow at MGIMO-University, Visiting Fellow at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna

Time Stamps:

00:51 Diplomacy as a true calling

03:05 Is multilateral diplomacy in decline?

04:53 IAEA flagship projects under the leadership of DG Grossi

07:26 Iranian issue

09:54 What can be said in response to critics of international institutions? 

12:28 What does Russia bring to the IAEA table?

14:35 From Vienna to New York?

18:33 What’s the daily routine of the Head of the IAEA?

21:01 What makes DG Grossi believe in diplomacy and humanity?

23:03 Q&A surprise

The podcast was recorded as part of a fellowship funded by the MGIMO Endowment.