UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 22– United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat Lana Nusseibeh has joined the race for the next UN secretary-general. Her name appeared on the United Nations’ official webpage for the selection of the next secretary-general on Wednesday.
The webpage shows that Nusseibeh was nominated by her country, the UAE. Nusseibeh is currently a minister of state at the UAE’s foreign ministry. Emirates News Agency, the UAE’s official news agency, said Nusseibeh has taken a leave of absence to focus on her candidacy.
Nusseibeh was the UAE’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2013 to 2024, including throughout the UAE’s 2022-2023 term as an elected member of the Security Council. During the UAE’s two-year term on the Security Council, Nusseibeh served twice as rotating president.
Nusseibeh, born in 1978, is the youngest candidate for the top UN job. There are currently seven candidates. In the six Security Council straw polls so far, no candidate has crossed the threshold for recommendation by the Security Council.
Under the UN Charter, the Security Council recommends a candidate to the General Assembly for appointment as UN secretary-general.
The seven current candidates are: Ivonne A-Baki, a former Ecuadoran minister and a diplomat; Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former UN General Assembly president and former foreign minister and defense minister of Ecuador; Rafael Grossi of Argentina, current director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica and current secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development; Olara Otunnu of Uganda, a former UN under-secretary-general; Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s permanent representative to the United Nations; Macky Sall, a former president of Senegal. The term for the next UN secretary-general starts on Jan. 1, 2027. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
