By IANS
New Delhi : India Tuesday announced the candidature of Kamalesh Sharma, the country's high commissioner to Britain, for the prestigious post of the Commonwealth secretary-general.
Sharma is a seasoned diplomat with wide-ranging experience in managing global affairs and his variegated career includes prestigious stints as India's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva and in New York.
The new Commonwealth secretary general, who will succeed the present incumbent Don McKinnon of New Zealand, will be elected at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala in November.
The Commonwealth secretary-general is the chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the main inter-governmental agency of the Commonwealth, and is elected by heads of government of the grouping for no more than two four-year terms.
The government is optimistic about Sharma's prospects of winning this coveted post and plans to promote Sharma's candidacy in a major way to ensure that Sharma is not edged out of the race at the last moment as was the case with Shashi Tharoor, who lost the bid for the post of UN Secretary General to South Korean Ban Ki Moon last year.
Sharma, a retired diplomat known for his closeness to Sonia Gandhi, was named high commissioner to the UK three years ago. He will now contest against Maltese Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, who joined the fray for the Commonwealth's top post over a month ago.
The external affairs ministry has made a vigorous pitch for Sharma's candidacy and praised his multi-faceted skills as a diplomat who is "eminently equipped to undertake this responsibility by virtue of the great interest he has shown in multilateral global affairs and in both South-South and North-South relations."
Sharma has been a member of the Board of Governors of Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation since 2004 and guided India's close engagement with the Commonwealth during this period.
As the first Special Representative of UN Secretary-General to independent East Timor, Sharma was directly engaged in all aspects of nation building and safeguarding its security and his contribution was widely recognised.
"His contribution and experience therefore extends to discharging practical responsibility on behalf of the international community in an important and complex assignment and goes beyond the conference room," the external affairs ministry said.