MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina nominates Susana Malcorra candidate for UN Secretary General post

Susana Malcorra has conditions and capacities to amply comply with the tasks of the UN Secretary General office, wrote Macri in the letter

President Mauricio Macri on Friday made official the nomination of Susana Malcorra as a candidate to the post of United Nations Secretary General, underlining that the diplomatic experience of the Argentine foreign minister will contribute to provide “creative solutions” to the challenges faced by the UN organization.

 The nomination became formal through a letter Macri sent to the president of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft and the head of the Security Council, Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta.

“On presenting this candidacy, the Argentine government is convinced that the conditions and capacities of Ms Malcorra, will enable her to address and amply comply the tasks of UN Secretary General”, said Macri in the letter.

The president recalled that Ms Malcorra, 61, foreign minister of Argentina, born in Rosario and with a degree in electronics engineering from the Rosario national University, has a long professional experience both in the public and private sectors, including over a decade working for the UN.

As a member of UN staff, Ms Malcorra held several different jobs such as head of operations and deputy executive management of the World Food Program, and later head of the Secretary General's cabinet.

She was involved from the very beginning with elaboration of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, and has the knowledge and capacity to promote its implementation in all the world.

The Argentine president said that the UN currently faces “great challenges in an ever more complex world”

In this context it is necessary to implement solutions that guarantee “peace, security, development and human rights”, wrote Macri, who also claimed the need for an association among governments, the private sector and civil society starting from “a more global and integrated vision”.

“The double purpose of prevention and sustainability must be the base of all the agendas the UN must advance”, he added.

If Ms. Malcorra is elected Secretary General, she would be the first woman to hold the post since the UN was created in 1945, and at the same time Latin America would be holding the job for the second time. The only Latin American who was Secretary General was Javier Perez de Cuellar, (1982/1991), from Peru.

Her nomination is in consonance with the idea Argentina is pushing, in support of a more integrated foreign policy to the world and which promotes inclusive dialogue, respecting the diversity of approaches and interests.

It is again the ratification of the value of multilateralism as the mechanism for relating among States, with common rules and responsibilities in the search of essential objectives such as peace, progress and development with social inclusion.