Lana Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates’ assistant foreign minister and its special envoy to the United Nations and the European Union, has formally joined the race to become the next UN secretary-general. She announced her candidacy after the UAE government formally nominated her.
Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu reported the news on Thursday (22 October).
In a statement after announcing her candidacy, Nusseibeh said she had spent much of her career working with the United Nations. In her words, she had seen what determined diplomacy can achieve.
But she said she had also seen how high the cost can be when diplomacy fails. When the gap between promises and action keeps widening, she said, people lose trust and the ability to act is weakened.
Anadolu reported that Nusseibeh is currently on leave from her UAE government duties to focus on her candidacy for secretary-general.
The second term of the current secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, is due to end on 31 December. The process to choose his successor is under way, but the UN Security Council has not yet reached a final decision.
The Security Council held its sixth round of voting on the matter on 16 October. But no single candidate acceptable to all five permanent members, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, has yet emerged.
Nusseibeh’s candidacy adds a new dimension to the contest to choose the next secretary-general.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report