Irina Bokova, born on July 12, 1952 in Bulgaria has been the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2009, and was reelected for a second term in 2013. She is the first woman and the first Eastern European to lead the Organization, according to UNESCO website.

Besides Bokova, there are four more candidates so far, namely Srgjan Kerim from former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Vesna Pusic from Republic of Croatia, Igor Luksic from Montenegro and Danilo Turk from Slovenia.

President Lykketoft has committed to running his Presidency in the most open and transparent manner possible. This also applies to the process of selecting and appointing the next United Nations Secretary-General, according to UN website.

Member States are invited to present candidates in a letter to the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council. The Presidents of the General Assembly and of the Security Council will jointly circulate to all Member States the names of individuals that have been submitted for consideration, according to UN website.

An election is due to be held in 2016 to determine who succeeds Ban Ki-moon whose term as the eighth United Nations Secretary-General will conclude on Dec. 31, 2016.

According to the UN charter, the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), addresses the workshop for the approval of the UNESCO 2016-2021 work plan for culture of Latin America and the Caribbean ahead of the 3rd Culture Ministers` Meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 18, 2015.

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