Lavrov Meets UNESCO Head to Discuss UN Secretary-General Selection Procedure

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov and UNESCO head Irina Bokova discussed the selection procedure of next UN Secretary-General on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov briefly met with UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, who is one of the candidates for the post of the UN Secretary-General from the Eastern European regional group," the ministerial statement said.

According to the statement, the discussion was devoted to selection procedure of the head of the United Nations.

In August, Bokova finished in the third place in a secret straw poll held by the UN Security Council, receiving seven "encourage," five "discourage" and three "no opinion" votes. The leading candidate in the poll was Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees and former prime minister of Portugal.

For a victory the candidate must receive at least nine positive votes with no veto from a permanent member of the Security Council in the polls. The next round of voting is scheduled on September 26.

Current UN leader Ban Ki-moon will leave his position on December 31, after being re-elected for the second term in 2012. For the last decades the position was held by the representatives of Latin America, Middle East, Africa and Asia. It is expected that the next candidate will be a representative of Eastern Europe. While former office holders represented a wide range of regions, there has never been a female Secretary-General.