Discussion with Kurt Waldheim on the UN Secretary General Race

In 1981 Dr. Salim ran as a candidate for the United Nations Secretary General to both succeed and challenge Kurt Waldehim, who was running for a third term. Throughout the year, Dr. Salim had to have multiple conversations and sessions with key stakeholders in order to know the country position and whether they would either support, reject or abstain from his candidacy. This is just a sample of those multiple conversations.

"It seems to me the Secretary-General was trying to convey a message which simply put would read as follows: He is likely to seek a third term. I should be patient since he will not serve for a full term. That type of arrangement can suit him because he can go back to Austria and become President and in his judgement should suit me (he is assuming, of course, that I have aspirations for the post of the Secretary-Generalship) since he would only be there for a limited period." Dr. Salim, June 26, 1980