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Slovak FM mulls over UN secretary-general candidacy

Xinhua, May 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak said Wednesday he hadn't ruled out the possibility of running for the post of United Nations (UN) secretary-general.

"I can't dispute the attractiveness of this opportunity. It's a challenge for a professional diplomat, and one doesn't run away from opportunities like this," stated Lajcak before Wednesday's parliamentary session.

Lajcak rejected the opinion the job would definitely go to a representative from Eastern Europe, despite no one from the region having yet headed the UN.

Incumbent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's term in office expires at the end of this year. The UN secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly for a five-year term, following approval from the UN Security Council (UNSC).

According to unwritten rules, the secretary-general should never come from any of the five permanent members of the UNSC: the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. There's also a tradition of rotating between regions, and so it's expected that the next holder of the post may well come from the Eastern European countries, which includes Slovakia. Endit