UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday announced his official bid for a second term as the UN chief, saying "if supported by the (UN) member states, I would be deeply honored to serve once more."
The secretary-general made the announcement at a press conference here at the UN Headquarters in New York following his meeting with the Asian Group of nations at the United Nations.
Ban sent a letter to both the 192-member UN General Assembly and the president of the 15-nation UN Security Council, the UN ambassador of Gabon who holds the rotating Council presidency for June, formally asking for the support to his candidacy for a second five-year term as the UN secretary-general, diplomats said here.
Ban's current mandate ends on Dec. 31, and he has no declared rival for the post. The 66-year-old former South Korean foreign minister succeeded Kofi Annan in January 2007.
"This morning I sent a letter to the membership of the General Assembly and the Security Council offering humbly myself for consideration for a second term as the secretary-general of the Untied Nations," Ban told the press conference. "It has been an enormous privilege to lead this great organization."
"If supported by the member states, I would be deeply honored to serve once more," Ban said. "Throughout my time in office I have sought to be a bridge-builder among the member states within the United Nations system, and among a rich diversity of global partners."
"Finding common ground is essential to delivering results," he said. "Looking back, these four and a half years have marked a period of extraordinary challenge for the United Nations and the international community and we can be proud of what we have accomplished together."
"We have raised climate change to the top of the global agenda, we have responded quickly and effectively to a series of devastating humanitarian emergencies in Myanmar, Haiti, and Pakistan and elsewhere," he said. "We have saved many lives and sown the seeds of peace in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cote d'Ivoire."
"They must be nurtured carefully. Amid the worst economic crisis in a century we kept the focus firmly on the needs of the most vulnerable," he added.