Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres joins race for UN Secretary-General

Christiana Figueres, the Costa Rican diplomat who led the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to its successful completion in 2015, entered the race to become UN Secretary-General on Thursday.

Figueres' candidacy was supported officially by the Costa Rican government during an event at the National Theater of San Jose, with numerous ministers and luminaries in attendance.

Costa Rican astronaut, Franklin Chang Diaz, introduced Figueres to the stage, who entered with her family under the flag of the UN.

Figueres began her speech by hailing the fact that five women have already entered the race for the UN's top job, including former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Argentinean Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, Moldova's former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman and Argentina's Minister of Foreign Affairs Susana Malcorra.

"The great injustice of this century, of which we are all responsible, is that economic and social pressure is being heaped on the most vulnerable. We now have over one billion people without food security, with degraded lands and without drinking water," said Figueres.

"We must find global solutions to global problems. Climate change is without a doubt the biggest global challenge of this century, but in Paris, 195 countries signed a unanimous agreement to transform their economies. This example of successful multilateralism was no accident...it took six years to build up trust and transparency," added Figueres, hailing a process she painstakingly led.

Speaking after her, Costa Rica's President, Luis Guillermo Solis, did not hide his emotion at Figueres' candidacy.

"Few women like Christiana could play this role with such capacity and devotion," he said.

Figueres was already seen as among the favourites to succeed Ban Ki-moon, who will finish his term in office at the end of this year. Enditem