UNITED NATIONS, April 11. /TASS/. World powers should be interested in a skilled politician, diplomat, taking leadership also on the administrative front as a candidate for the UN Secretary-General office, President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft told TASS on Monday.

"It has to be a strong moral authority, it has to be a good skilled politician, diplomat, it has to be a person with the experience in leading major organizations, taking leadership also on the administrative front," he said. "We all know it’s a very difficult job."

According to Lykketoft, "there seems to be an increasing understanding even by the strongest of powers that we have to have a multilateral way of solving problems, we have to negotiate, we have to make compromises, we have to work together".

"I hope it will also lead to the understanding that what we need in the UN is also a strong personality in the head of the Organization," he said. "That is not in contradiction with the interests of the major powers."

Lykketoft said "maybe it was like that on previous occasions, but I am not sure it is like that, because we all need, they all need," even the five permanent members of the Security Council, which are Russia, Great Britain, China, France and the United States, need a stronger United Nations.

"But we will see what happens," he said. "We are in a way in uncharted waters here with the General Assembly being ahead in the process of the Security Council."

"The wish of the general membership of the UN is to have more influence on the selection of the next Secretary General could be successful, but it will take that there is during this process in the General Assembly a kind of rallying around one single candidate," he said.

"Then I think the permanent five would accept it as the common candidate," Lykketoft said. "But if the membership is presenting a lot of candidates until the very end and nobody is really being the eminent one of course it will be the permanent five again taking the actual decision in the Security Council."

In his words, "there is a kind of well-defined direction in the General Assembly".

"I think the Assembly will be successful in having much more influence in the process," he said.

The powers of Ban Ki-moon who has been on the post of the UN Secretary-General since January 1, 2007, will expire on December 31. According to the UN Charter, the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, traditionally through a GA resolution.

Under the UN resolution, the open hearing will take place for the first time on April 12-14.

Official candidates are Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO; Helen Clark, the Administrator of the UN Development Program; Natalia Gherman, the Prime Minister of Moldova; Antonio Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal and UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Srgjan Kerim, former Foreign Minister of Macedonia and President of the UN General Assembly; Igor Luksic, Foreign Minister of Montenegro; Vesna Pusic Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia; Danilo Turk, former Slovenian Ambassador to the UN, Assistant Secretary General of the UN for Political Affairs, President of Slovenia.