Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra’s bid for UN Secretary General wins support from U.S.
The U.S. government will support Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra’s bid to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations, reports suggested yesterday. Malcorra had served as chief of staff to retiring Secretary General Ban Ki-moon before becoming Argentina’s Foreign Minister last December.
Sources inside the U.S. government told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph that President Barack Obama and his National Security Adviser Susan Rice fully back Malcorra’s candidacy, with the newspaper suggesting that Downing Street is concerned such a move would damage its position over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands.
The recently-appointed Foreign minister is “enthusiastically supported by Ms. Rice,” the newspaper said, quoting a source in Washington. “Obama is said to have been won over by arguments in Ms. Malcorra’s favor from his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri on a visit to Buenos Aires in March that was widely seen as an attempt to reset US-Argentine relations,” the Telegraph wrote.
Malcorra however will need more support than just the United States to be elected to the position, as she competes to be the first woman to head the United Nations since it was created in 1945. There are currently five women among the 10 candidates vying for the position, with New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark and Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova reported to be the favorites.
At the same time, the country’s recently-appointed Foreign Minister also faces several other hurdles. The United Kingdom, one of five security council members with veto powers, has been a vocal advocate of having the next UN Secretary General be a woman. They are, however, apparently uneasy about electing a secretary-general from Argentina due to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute.
Some experts claim that the Macri administration’s recent attempts to play down the dispute over the islands is primarily due to Macri's goal of obtaining Britain's support for Malcorra’s candidacy.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/215635/malcorra%E2%80%99s-un-bid-wins-support-of-washington