"It's an honour for anyone to have his name being mentioned in a positive light. At this moment, I'm not a candidate," said Surin, an executive member of the Democrat Party.

"But the international community has been aware of my keen interest in an international position for some time," he said.

According to a diplomatic source, the United States sees Surin as a strong candidate and will discuss his nomination with the four other members of the UN Security Council's Permanent-5.

Washington sees Surin, a Thai Muslim and an academic adviser to Oxford University's Islamic Centre, as a diplomat who could help bridge gaps in understanding between the West and the Islamic world amid ongoing global tension.

The former foreign minister has worked previously with the UN on a number of issues and serves on the board of the International Labour Organisation's World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation and the Commission on Human Security. Both are under UN auspices.

Surin is also a member of the advisory board for the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.