DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates has nominated Lana Nusseibeh, its Minister of State and former ambassador to the United Nations, to succeed Antonio Guterres as UN secretary-general, making her a late entrant in a race that has stalled at the Security Council.

If chosen, Nusseibeh would be the first woman to lead the United Nations since its founding in 1945. She would also be the second Arab secretary-general after Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the first Gulf Arab to hold the post, according to The National.

President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed formally put her forward on Wednesday in a letter to the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the state news agency WAM reported. The letter cited her deep experience of the United Nations, according to WAM.

Nusseibeh, 48, told Reuters in an interview that she wanted to restore the UN's role as a problem-solver in global crises rather than a spectator. She said several countries had approached her during the last General Assembly to urge her to stand.

"It's recognized today that we need someone who offers generational change for the organization," she told the news agency.

She also addressed the question of gender, which has hung over the contest as campaigners push for the first female secretary-general. "I'm not running because I'm a woman," she told Reuters, while saying it would be good for the next holder of the office to be one.

Nusseibeh has taken leave from her government post to campaign, Reuters and Khaleej Times reported.

Her bid arrives with the race at an impasse. Six rounds of informal straw polls in the 15-member Security Council have failed to produce a candidate acceptable to all five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, Khaleej Times reported, citing Reuters.

Former Costa Rican vice-president Rebeca Grynspan narrowly led the most recent poll on October 16. But she and every other candidate drew at least two opposing votes from permanent members, any one of whom can block a nominee.

Council members are negotiating whether to hold another poll as early as Friday or at a later stage, Reuters reported.

Other declared candidates include Argentina's Rafael Grossi, Chile's Michelle Bachelet and Senegal's Macky Sall, according to The National. Most of the field comes from Latin America and the Caribbean, and an informal custom of regional rotation has raised expectations of a Latin American pick.

That custom, like the push to appoint a woman, is not a formal requirement under the UN Charter. A candidate needs at least nine votes in the council and no veto from a permanent member before the General Assembly makes the appointment.

Nusseibeh served as the UAE's permanent representative to the UN in New York from 2013 to 2024. She led the country's delegation during its 2022-2023 term on the Security Council and twice held the council's rotating presidency, Khaleej Times reported.

During that term she worked on Resolution 2720, which opened a path for humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. She told Reuters she won council backing for the measure partly by taking members to see the Rafah crossing for themselves, a trip Khaleej Times dated to December 2023. She called the tactic part of her "creative entrepreneurial diplomacy".

Before New York, she set up the Foreign Ministry's policy planning department and served as its first director, according to The National. She has also been a vice-president of the General Assembly and president of the executive board of UN Women.

In a vision statement released with her nomination, Nusseibeh called for the UN to pursue achievable early agreements such as humanitarian access, prisoner exchanges and local truces, backed by persistent diplomacy and verification. She also proposed greater accountability, less duplication and a focus on measurable results.

"I wish to offer myself to this office as I would serve it: speaking frankly with every government and answering to none," she said, according to Khaleej Times. "There will be no exemptions for friends and no grudges against critics."

UN sanctions monitors have described as credible allegations that the Emirates gave military support to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Reuters reported. The UAE denies the allegations. Asked about them, Nusseibeh told Reuters she had taken leave from her post and would concentrate on Sudan's humanitarian crisis.

The nomination drew early support from Brett McGurk, a former US official, who wrote on X that she "would be an inspired choice for this impossible job", The National reported.

Guterres is serving the last year of his second and final five-year term, which ends on December 31. His successor will take office on January 1, 2027.

The Security Council has yet to settle on the date of its next straw poll, the first that could include Nusseibeh.