Six official candidates claim for the post of UN Secretary General

Baku. 27 February. REPORT.AZ/ As the process to select the next United Nations Secretary-General gets under way, the President of the General Assembly announced today that he will hold a series of informal dialogues and meetings with all potential candidates from 12 to 14 April.

Each candidate will be offered a two-hour meeting slot to present his or her candidature, and UN Member States will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with each person, Report informs, Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft said at a press briefing this afternoon at Headquarters in New York on the selection and appointment process.

“I think this is quite historic and potentially game-changing for the way the Secretary-General is appointed,” said Mr. Lykketoft.

The General Assembly President noted that he sent a letter yesterday to all UN Member States informing them of his intention to begin the meetings with all candidates who had been formally presented by that time.

“The informal dialogues or meetings will be as open and transparent as possible, with the considerable interest from the global public and civil society being duly kept in mind,” the letter states.

Thus far, six candidates have been officially presented: Srgian Kerim of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Vesna Pusic of Croatia; Igor Luksic of Montenegro; Danilo Turk of Slovenia; Irina Bokova of Bulgaria; and Natalia Gherman of the Republic of Moldova.

According to the UN Charter, the Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly following the recommendation of the Security Council.

The General Assembly President, along with Security Council President Samantha Power, issued a letter to Member States on 15 December 2015 to begin soliciting candidates and to set in motion the selection and appointment process.

In the briefing today, Mr. Lykketoft noted that each candidate will be asked to provide a short vision statement of up to 2,000 words in advance, which his office will circulate to Member States and the public.