site.btaForeign Ministry: UN Informal Dialogues with Secretary General Candidates Confirmed Bokova's Leading Position

Foreign Ministry: UN Informal Dialogues with Secretary General Candidates Confirmed Bokova's Leading Position

Sofia, April 13 (BTA) - The Tuesday hearing at the UN of the Bulgarian candidate for the job of UN Secretary General, Irina Bokova, took place amid strong interest and attention among the UN member states, which was evidenced in the large number of delegations participating in the discussion, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Bokova was among the first three candidates, along with Igor Luksic of Montenegro and Antonio Guterres of Portugal, to go through the new procedure of "informal dialogues" at the General Assembly.

According to the Foreign Ministry, a key advantage for Bokova's was her perfect knowledge of the UN agenda and her experience as UNESCO Director-General.

She demonstrated an impressive command of the English, French and Spanish language as she took questions from participants in the discussion, the statement says further.

"The strong performance of Irina Bokova reconfirmed her position as a leading candidate for the office of UN Secretary General with a proven international experience and leadership skills," the statement says.

Bokova started off her presentation with the Bulgarian history as an example of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect among peoples and communities. She reconfirmed her strong commitment to multilateralism as an approach for addressing the complex challenges of today: prolonged conflicts and crisis, the aftermath of natural disasters, unprecedented migration waves and global forced displacement.

She vowed to work for the accomplishment of clear priorities, if elected: conflict prevention and strengthening mediation in conflict resolution, fulfilling the sustainable development goals, empowering women and dealing with discrimination and violence against women.

Bokova underscored the connection between peacekeeping, sustainable development and human rights, and put it at the core of her vision of the new humanism in the 21st century.

In the ensuing discussion with key groups in the UN and with the national delegations, the Bulgarian candidate took questions on a wide scope of issues from the whole agenda of the UN. She vowed to take further the reform of the organization so as to make it more efficient on an operational and financial level, and to work with the member states for countering global threats including radicalization, forced extremism, the forced displacement of large groups of people, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Commenting the global efforts for dealing with the consequences of the large migrations flows, Bokova spoke about the pivotal role of investment in the least developed areas and most vulnerable countries to strengthen their resilience to crises, as well as about the importance of the programmes of youth education and employment.