Security Council to start considering names for next Secretary-General in July

The United Nations Security Council will start considering candidates for the post of Secretary-General next month, its current president Ambassador Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark said in a letter released today.

“I wish to inform you that the Security Council intends to start in early July the process of consideration of candidates which will have been presented to its president by a Member State,” she told President of the UN General Assembly Jan Eliasson in the letter, which he transmitted to all ambassadors.

The letter said the Security Council is committed to working closely with the General Assembly on “this important matter, in a spirit of transparency and dialogue,” noting that the Charter gives a key role to both regarding “one of the most essential decisions for the United Nations, the selection of the Secretary-General.”

“The President of the Security Council will continue, on behalf of all members, to keep you informed and through you the membership at large, of development in the process within the Council,” Ambassador Løj said in her letter, adding that as in the past, a Member State may present candidates at any stage of the process. The candidates do not necessarily have to be nationals of that country.

In his letter to the heads of observer missions to the UN, Mr. Eliasson said, “I know that all of you take a strong interest in the process of securing the best candidate for the post.”

The General Assembly President told ambassadors that he would continue to keep them informed about his meetings with the President of the Security Council on “this important matter.”

After serving the Organization for two terms, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to leave the office by the end of this year.