Vesna Pusić

Vesna Pusic thinks it is possible that none of the candidates now in the race to become the new UN secretary-general will eventually be elected to the position.

Pusic is a former Croatian foreign minister and a former candidate in the race for the top UN job, who dropped out earlier in the year.

Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, has officially announced she is running for the UN Secretary-General's office.

Clark, who at the moment heads the UN Development Program, is seen as a strong rival to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova. To date, the latter has been described as a "frontrunner" in the race.

HSN party leader Vesna Pusic, who in the past served as Croatia's foreign minister, is officially a candidate for the post of UN secretary-general.

Pusic has also launched a website to promote her bid.

Montenegro has formally submitted the candidacy of its Foreign Minister, Igor Luksic, as a candidate to take over as UN Secretary General.

Two Bulgarians might turn out to be the main rivals for the United Nations Secretary General's seat that will be vacated by Ban Ki-moon late next year, Russian news outlet Nezavisimaya Gazeta has said.

For the first time since the creation of the United Nations 70 years ago, female candidates are being mentioned among the likely successors of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Venetia van Kuffeler writes in an article in the December-January issue of London-based Diplomat magazine.

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said on Thursday her country supports the opening of the first chapters in Serbia's EU accession negotiations.

She also said that "of all EU member-states, Croatia had the biggest interest in seeing Serbia become a member of the EU."

Everything that happened in the past days will affect relations between Serbia and Croatia, Vesna Pusic has told the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

The Croatian foreign minister added that it was "important not to dramatize every situation, but to try to resolve everything in a way that will benefit both Croatia and Serbia."

Croatia's centre-left government on Thursday offered official support to Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic in her bid to become the new UN Secretary General.

Her candidacy was unofficially raised in February and her chances appeared high, as it is thought that the next UN Secretary will come from Eastern or Southeastern Europe.

Russia believes that the next United Nations Secretary General should be a representative of the Eastern European group of countries, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.