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The United Arab Emirates has nominated Lana Nusseibeh, the country’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and a veteran diplomat who has served as its representative to the United Nations and the European Union, as a candidate for the next UN secretary-general.
Abu Dhabi formally nominated Nusseibeh on Wednesday, October 21, as the selection process continued without a candidate acceptable to all five permanent members of the UN Security Council after six rounds of informal voting, according to Anadolu Agency.
In a statement, Nusseibeh said a significant part of her professional career had been spent working within the United Nations and engaging with its activities.
“I have seen firsthand what principled and determined diplomacy can achieve,” she said.
She added that she had also witnessed the consequences when diplomacy failed to meet expectations. A widening gap between commitments and actual delivery eroded trust and weakened the ability to take effective action, she said.
Nusseibeh has taken temporary leave from her government position to focus on her candidacy.
According to media reports, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent letters to the presidents of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council formally nominating her.
The nomination comes amid continued efforts to identify a successor to current UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The Security Council held its latest round of informal voting on October 16, but the process has yet to produce a candidate acceptable to the five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France.
Guterres’s second term is scheduled to end on December 31, paving the way for the appointment of a new secretary-general.
