UN, November 7. /TASS/. A candidate for the post of UN secretary general, former Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu is ready to support all efforts aimed at resolving the Ukrainian conflict through negotiations if elected to head the world organization, he said.
"The UN's responsibility is to help create the conditions for peace. The secretary general's good offices should remain available to all parties, with the aim of keeping channels of communication open and building confidence step by step. I would work to strengthen the UN's role as a platform for dialog. My aim would be to support every genuine effort toward a negotiated and just settlement to end the war in Ukraine," he said during a dialogue at the headquarters of the global organization.
Sinirlioglu added that, as OSCE secretary general, he is "daily dealing with this situation with the war in Ukraine," and considers it "one of the most serious challenges facing the international community today."
In late October, Turkey nominated Sinirlioglu for the post of UN secretary general. The term of the current Secretary General Antonio Guterres will expire on December 31.
Besides Sinirlioglu, seven other candidates are vying for the post: Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (Argentina); Secretary General of UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica), former Foreign and Defense Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces (Ecuador), Permanent Representative of Guyana to the UN Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, former Ecuador’s Ambassador to the United States and France Ivonne Baki, former Permanent Representative of Uganda to the UN Olara Otunnu, and State Minister at the UAE Foreign Ministry Lana Zaki Nusseibeh.