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| United Nations candidates compete for secretary general job in debate – live | United Nations candidates compete for secretary general job in debate – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 7.50pm BST | |
| 19:50 | |
| Jeremic on the biggest challenge of the next few years: Climate change. | |
| Perhaps we are not going to see dramatic effects but if we fail to do it in the next few years it might be too late to address things successfully. | |
| Decisive action needs to take place on the follow-up to the Paris climate agreements, one of the “great diplomatic breakthroughs of 2015.” | |
| He also proposes a “new deal” for UN peace operations in the 21st century. | |
| Updated | |
| at 7.51pm BST | |
| 7.47pm BST | |
| 19:47 | |
| To another question now from the audience: “What’s the greatest global threat in the next 10 years, what role can the UN play?” | |
| Guterres says it’s the inability to pre-empt conflicts and address them. All conflicts are becoming more and more interconnected. | |
| The biggest challenge we face is how to bring together the parties and potential problem solvers. Prevention is also about global development. The UN has been too fragmented dealing with different things and has been unable to “connect the dots.” | |
| 7.44pm BST | |
| 19:44 | |
| Now it’s the turn of Luksic. So, compromise or confrontation? asks Mark. | |
| Luksic says that the only way to assert your self is to be proactive. In difficult times also you will be the ones then who will really listen to you. | |
| Today everyone wants outcomes. It’s simply no go if you just go around and talk and talk. | |
| 7.42pm BST | |
| 19:42 | |
| Jeremic is asked if he agrees or if he sees himself as being a tougher secretary general. | |
| He agrees with everything that Guterres says, he wants to address Greenstock’s question in particular. | |
| There were times in the past when UN secretary generals (namedrops Dag Hammarskjöld) faced even tougher challenges. | |
| The next secretary general will have a very powerful loudspeaker and should not be afraid to use it. They should be a “person with a spine.” | |
| There is a school of thinking that the secretary general should only act as a chief adminstrative officer and only carry out what the big powers want. | |
| He or she should increasingly play a more “political role”. | |
| That’s more clearly so in the case of climate change... less so in terms of peace and security, he adds. | |
| 7.37pm BST | |
| 19:37 | |
| Jeremy Greenstock, a former UK ambassador to the UN, has the first question from the audience. | |
| In this campaign, we’re seeing the first creation of a “global public”. Will the next secretary general be tough enough to stand up to the “great powers” however ? | |
| Guterres says he sees the secretary general’s role as one of a convenor. Difference between the powers are outweighed by their common needs, such as confronting global terrorism. | |
| It’s clear that even if groups of states like the P5 (the UN’s permanent five members) have different interests, the common interests like establishing peace outweighs all else. | |
| Updated | |
| at 7.37pm BST | |
| 7.34pm BST | |
| 19:34 | |
| What kind of reception is Vuk Jeremic getting? | |
| He hopes that the whole process, and the fact that we are talking like this, will be of use to the the next secretary general. | |
| The world is in flux and it’s going to be a very different landscape for the next UN Secretary General. | |
| 7.32pm BST | |
| 19:32 | |
| Next question ( a nice easy one): What does President Putin think of you Igor?! | |
| “I am sure that he has no reason to believe that I am a good guy,” replies the former Montenegro prime minister. | |
| On to the broader issue of tensions and hotspots. There are more than 100,000 peacekeepers at the moment.. | |
| That tells in itself how many difficulties we are faced with. There are other, more positive things however, and the UN should focus on development. | |
| 7.29pm BST | |
| 19:29 | |
| It’s an election where candidates are seeking to appeal both to the public and the great powers, says Mark. How they feel about each other’s pitches - some lengthier than others? | |
| Guteres says there is an absolute need to have “combined” approach to the problems of the world. | |
| “We have to understand that everything in the world is interconnected,” he adds. | |
| “The Secretary General is more than someone who pushes everyone. He needs be a convenor. They have to act like a catalyst.” | |
| All the contributions that have come - including from other candidates - have a role to play. | |
| 7.25pm BST | |
| 19:25 | |
| It’s the turn of Igor Luksic. What are his big ideas? asks Mark. | |
| Luksic says that the vision should be a lot about optimism. It’s probably the best time in history that a human being can be born, but is it really the “sentiment” worldwide, he adds. Do the youth of the world really have opportunities? | |
| 7.24pm BST | |
| 19:24 | |
| To the first question then: What makes you the best candidate? | |
| Antonio Guterres is first up and speaks from his experience of witnessing unimaginable suffering. The best place to address this is from the heart of the UN. That’s what motivates him. | |
| Vuk Jeremic is next. Public service at real level has to be about delivering for “real people”, he says. He asks for a show of hands on how many people feel that the UN is really delivering. Here’s what happens: | |
| A UN Sec Gen candidate asks for show of hands on how many believe UN is delivering. Few go up pic.twitter.com/eIU3MoVDh8 | |
| 7.20pm BST | |
| 19:20 | |
| The three candidates here tonight and my colleague, Mark Rice Oxley, takes the stage. | |
| He’s prompt with a mention of what the obvious thought many will have. In the year that the UN’s first female secretary general could eventually take the job, and there are a number of other candidates, we’re looking at three men in suits. | |
| “What can I say, never work with children, animals or candidates for high office,” he says, to laughs. | |
| Updated | |
| at 7.39pm BST | |
| 7.17pm BST | 7.17pm BST |
| 19:17 | 19:17 |
| All of tonight’s questions come from the public, explains Samarasinghe, who says that her organisation has been inundated. | All of tonight’s questions come from the public, explains Samarasinghe, who says that her organisation has been inundated. |
| Feel free to pitch in on Twitter with your questions though. It’s not too late. | Feel free to pitch in on Twitter with your questions though. It’s not too late. |
| 7.15pm BST | 7.15pm BST |
| 19:15 | 19:15 |
| We’re getting an introduction first from Natalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director of UNA-UK and co-founder of 1 for 7 Billion. | We’re getting an introduction first from Natalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director of UNA-UK and co-founder of 1 for 7 Billion. |
| She says that public trust in financial institutions and political leadership is at a low ebb. | She says that public trust in financial institutions and political leadership is at a low ebb. |
| All of this has weakened international institutions like the UN. For the first time in the UN’s history we have a public list of those going for the job of secretary general. | All of this has weakened international institutions like the UN. For the first time in the UN’s history we have a public list of those going for the job of secretary general. |
| What’s needed, more than ever, is a visionary figure. | What’s needed, more than ever, is a visionary figure. |
| No pressure then. | No pressure then. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.16pm BST | at 7.16pm BST |
| 7.10pm BST | 7.10pm BST |
| 19:10 | 19:10 |
| If you’re following and contributing on Twitter, the hashtag for this even is #SGdebate. Enjoy. | If you’re following and contributing on Twitter, the hashtag for this even is #SGdebate. Enjoy. |
| 7.02pm BST | 7.02pm BST |
| 19:02 | 19:02 |
| Here’s a guide we published in March to some of the possible candidates. Not all of them are here tonight alas, but I think we’re in far a good flavour of the type of debate which is going on. | Here’s a guide we published in March to some of the possible candidates. Not all of them are here tonight alas, but I think we’re in far a good flavour of the type of debate which is going on. |
| Related: Who will succeed Ban Ki-moon? A guide to the possible candidates | Related: Who will succeed Ban Ki-moon? A guide to the possible candidates |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 7.08pm BST | at 7.08pm BST |
| 7.00pm BST | 7.00pm BST |
| 19:00 | 19:00 |
| We’re just waiting for the candidates to arrive on stage. Here’s a the view for now: | We’re just waiting for the candidates to arrive on stage. Here’s a the view for now: |
| Mins away, a little bit of history: Hustings for the next UN Sec GenLive from the Barbican https://t.co/SwqikqeRWz pic.twitter.com/88kCJ6fojQ | Mins away, a little bit of history: Hustings for the next UN Sec GenLive from the Barbican https://t.co/SwqikqeRWz pic.twitter.com/88kCJ6fojQ |
| 6.51pm BST | 6.51pm BST |
| 18:51 | 18:51 |
| Vuk Jeremic, 40, former foreign minister of Serbia: Served as president of United Nations General Assembly between September 2012 and September 2013, Jeremic is a Harvard and Cambridge graduate who cut his first political teeth in pro-democracy activities while a student. As Serbia’s foreign minister, he was at the forefront of the state’s nascent pursuit of membership of the European Union, while also handling Serbia’s approach to what was then the breakaway province of Kosovo. | Vuk Jeremic, 40, former foreign minister of Serbia: Served as president of United Nations General Assembly between September 2012 and September 2013, Jeremic is a Harvard and Cambridge graduate who cut his first political teeth in pro-democracy activities while a student. As Serbia’s foreign minister, he was at the forefront of the state’s nascent pursuit of membership of the European Union, while also handling Serbia’s approach to what was then the breakaway province of Kosovo. |
| Antonio Guterres, 67, the former prime minister of Portugal: Led his country’s government from 1995 to 2002, he then served as UN high commissioner for refugees for a decade from 2005 to 2015. His time in that role corresponded with the beginning of the greatest refugee crisis since the second world war, when he called on the European Union to adopt a mass relocation programme that would be binding on EU states. He studied physics and electrical engineering and worked in academia before embarking on a political career in the 1970s. | Antonio Guterres, 67, the former prime minister of Portugal: Led his country’s government from 1995 to 2002, he then served as UN high commissioner for refugees for a decade from 2005 to 2015. His time in that role corresponded with the beginning of the greatest refugee crisis since the second world war, when he called on the European Union to adopt a mass relocation programme that would be binding on EU states. He studied physics and electrical engineering and worked in academia before embarking on a political career in the 1970s. |
| Igor Lukšić, 39, Montenegro’s former prime minister: Another representative of the former Yugoslavia, Lukšić has been a minister in Montenegro’s parliament since 2001 and in 2010 became prime minister, following stints overseeing finance and press relations. He is a strong advocate for the EU (and Montenegro’s entry into it), and supported privatisation of banks and anti-corruption measures as finance minister. He has also authored three volumes of poetry and prose. | Igor Lukšić, 39, Montenegro’s former prime minister: Another representative of the former Yugoslavia, Lukšić has been a minister in Montenegro’s parliament since 2001 and in 2010 became prime minister, following stints overseeing finance and press relations. He is a strong advocate for the EU (and Montenegro’s entry into it), and supported privatisation of banks and anti-corruption measures as finance minister. He has also authored three volumes of poetry and prose. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 6.51pm BST | at 6.51pm BST |
| 6.38pm BST | 6.38pm BST |
| 18:38 | 18:38 |
| Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest public debate in the election for the next head of the United Nations – the “most impossible job on this earth”, in the words of one secretary general to his successor. | Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest public debate in the election for the next head of the United Nations – the “most impossible job on this earth”, in the words of one secretary general to his successor. |
| We’re at the Barbican centre in London, where three of the field of candidates who would succeed Ban Ki-moon will face questions about war, pandemics, refugees, climate change and forging agreements between 193 nations that disagree on all those problems and more. | We’re at the Barbican centre in London, where three of the field of candidates who would succeed Ban Ki-moon will face questions about war, pandemics, refugees, climate change and forging agreements between 193 nations that disagree on all those problems and more. |
| It’s a small piece of history in the making. Secretary generals are usually chosen behind closed doors, like a pope or a Nobel prize winner. This year however, a popular movement has emerged calling for more openness so the public can vet who the powerful select. This debate is the culmination of that process. | It’s a small piece of history in the making. Secretary generals are usually chosen behind closed doors, like a pope or a Nobel prize winner. This year however, a popular movement has emerged calling for more openness so the public can vet who the powerful select. This debate is the culmination of that process. |
| The three candidates debating in front of a live audience here at the Barbican are António Guterres, Vuk Jeremić and Igor Lukšić. | The three candidates debating in front of a live audience here at the Barbican are António Guterres, Vuk Jeremić and Igor Lukšić. |
| I’m Ben Quinn, and I’ll be live blogging the debate, which is being moderated by my colleague Mark Rice-Oxley. | I’m Ben Quinn, and I’ll be live blogging the debate, which is being moderated by my colleague Mark Rice-Oxley. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 6.44pm BST | at 6.44pm BST |