The next UN Secretary-General: last day of informal briefings
This is the first time the opportunity presents itself for substantive and open engagement with the candidates – for the full UN membership and the public.
Each candidate is being given a televised and webcast two-hour timeslot, starting with a short oral presentation. Representatives from Member States then ask questions, followed by the President of the General Assembly, who asks a few of the more than 1,000 questions submitted by the general public on social media under the hashtag #UNSGcandidates.
The three candidates who will go before the General Assembly on Thursday are listed below, in order of appearance. They will present their ‘vision statements,’ which address the challenges and opportunities facing the UN and the next Secretary-General, and answer questions from the audience.
Vuk Jeremic was the President of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly and a former Foreign Minister of Serbia.
Helen Clark is a former Prime Minister of New Zealand and the current Administrator of the UN Development Programme.
Srgjan Kerim is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and was the President of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly.
Following their sessions, each candidate will have the opportunity to speak with the press. The events can be followed live on UN WebTV.
The six candidates who have already presented their views on the first two days of briefings are the following:
Igor Luksic, current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro.
Irina Bokova, the current Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESC), nominated by Bulgaria.
Antonio Guterres, who was most recently the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, nominated by Portugal.
Danilo Türk, former President of Slovenia.
Vesna Pusić, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia.
Natalia Gherman, former first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova.
UN Photo/John Isaac
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