Tufts Grad Eyed For Top U.N. Post

When Kofi Annan steps down as Secretary-General in 2006, many think Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai will be his replacement.

New York City [09.29.04] Two years remain in Kofi Annan’s term as United Nations Secretary-General, but the rumors about his replacement have already begun to swirl. Among the early favorites is Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai – a Fletcher-educated diplomat who could become the first Asian to head the U.N. in more than three decades.

“A confident man with a regal, almost beefy bearing, Surakiart, 46, is a former oil company executive and powerful former finance minister who negotiated intellectual property rights treaties with Washington and coped with the collapse of the Thai economy,” reported the Washington Times.

For awhile now, Thailand has been quietly lobbying to establish Sathirathai as a strong candidate to replace Annan when he steps down in 2006.

On Tuesday, the Fletcher graduate received a significant public boost from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which formally endorsed him for the Secretary-General post.

“The United Nations is such an important organization. Of course I am honored by the endorsement,” Sathirathai told the Times.

Though largely symbolic, the gesture is expected to have a tangible effect.

“Surakiart's endorsement effectively cuts off the rumored candidacies of a number of distinguished applicants from the region, including Singapore's former U.N. ambassador and author Kishore Mahbubani, former Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon, and former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas,” reported the Times.

But the Fletcher graduate – described as “leading the horserace” among potential candidates – still has a long road ahead of him, if he hopes to become Annan’s replacement.

“Like many senior U.N. positions, the position of secretary-general rotates among the world's major regions,” reported the Times. “That pattern was disrupted when Africa received an extra turn after Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali was denied the traditional second term, but it is commonly agreed that it will be Asia's turn next.”

But not everyone thinks it’s Asia’s turn.

“A push by some members of New Europe could bring one of their own to the fore,” reported the New York Sun, which also noted that there has never been a Secretary-General from North America.

And there are several other prominent Asian diplomats who may challenge Surakairt over the next 24 months.

“One such candidate whose name is whispered around the halls of the world body is the undersecretary-general for public information, Shashi Tharoor, an Indian-born, British-educated writer with a Hollywood flair,” reported the Sun.

Also a Tufts graduate, Tharoor has downplayed his chances.

"The secretary-general is barely halfway through his second term,” Tharoor told the Sun. “We all have a great deal of work to do to fulfill what remains to be accomplished in this term, and we're all concentrating on that. I am certainly focused on that."

Like Tharoor, Surakairt says he is focused on his diplomatic work, not the behind-the-scenes campaigning.

In a major address to the U.N. General Assembly, the Fletcher graduate called for major reforms aimed at keeping the organization from “sinking into irrelevance.”

“It is Thailand’s belief that given today’s international landscape, there is greater need than ever to create new layers of regional and subregional building blocks to strengthen the UN multilateral foundation,” Surakiart said. “For what it is and for what it will be, the UN is the creation of its members. So in demanding more of the UN, we must also demand more of ourselves.”