Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

By Felix Dodds and Chris Spence  first published by Inter Press Service here. With current UN Secretary-General António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who is in the running to replace him? In this seven-part series, Felix Dodds and Chris Spence reveal who might be in the running and assess their chances. APEX, North Carolina / DUBLIN, Ireland, Apr 23 2024 (IPS) - What makes an effective UN Secretary-General? In our previous posts, we highlighted six possible candidates: Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica), Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), Alicia Bárcena (Mexico), Mia Mottley (Barbados), and Amina J. Mohammed (Nigeria). These are names that have come up in conversations with UN insiders and other experts. All six would offer skills and experiences we believe would be valuable in these fast-paced, uncertain times. With two years to go until the selection process takes place, some might feel it is too early to start this conversation. We disagree. By rai...

The rumors that have been circulating for the last month have now proven to be true. The Bulgarian government has withdrawn support from Irina Bokova as their candidate for UN Secretary General and replaced her with Kristalina Georgieva , the European commissioner for budget and human resources. There is some evidence that the right of center parties in European capitals have been behind this with some articles appearing in the last few weeks against Bokova. The Guardian reported on the 26 th : “one of her (Kristalina’s) staff members was hacked and emails purporting to be from one of her top aides were sent out to the rest of her office, instructing them to attack Bokova ” There is no question that Kristalina has the cv and record to be a very good UN Secretary General. She is a strong supporter of sustainable development issues she will pick up the SDGs and climate agendas with ease. She is dynamic and very personable and was very active around last week’s UN General A...

The election process for UN Secretary General is getting very interesting.  The UN is a wash with rumors of a late dark horse Kristalina Georgieva European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources.  As she is also from Bulgaria it would mean that the either the Bulgarian Government would have to withdraw their support for Irina Bokova . Discussion was due to happen on Tuesday this week within the Bulgarian Cabinet to decide if they were going to switch horses. Or another rumor as reported in the Sofia Globe circulating is that according to a tweet by Talal Al-Haj, UN bureau chief of television station Al-Arabiya, Georgieva will be nominated by Hungary, Latvia and Croatia, with the support of Germany. In previous blogs I had suggested that Bokova was a strong candidate for UN Secretary General she has done well in her tenure at UNESCO and of the candidates left in the race seemed to have a good chance. As I might say are  António Guterres  and...

The beginning of the media buzz Now that we know who the  the next Executive Director of UNEP and the  Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, will be. Coffee bar talk has moved on to who the next UN Secretary General will be two names it seems are being talked about if they will throw their hats into the ring they are   Ms. Susana Malcorra (Argentina) and  Alicia Bárcena Ibarra (Mexico) Of course, it helps if you know the process of selection a little better before writing the article. For starters, you cannot have a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, UK and USA [P5]) as the UN Secretary General. The New York Times suggested Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She is unfortunately a French national, therefore she isn’t a possible candidate; nor is the excellent suggestion by Slant of Ertharin Cousin, the US World Food Programme head. The UN is a set of checks and balances – just ...