Friday, June 16 2006 10:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Reacting to India's nomination of diplomat and writer Shashi Tharoor for the post of United Nations Secretary General, the US has said that it would be 'looking very carefully' at the nominees.

"Obviously the Secretary General of the United Nations is an extremely important position for the welfare of the whole world and the United States will be looking very carefully at all the nominees," a senior Bush administration official said yesterday in response to the announcement in New Delhi.

The United States has also said very little on the other candidates whose names have been bandied about from such countries as Sri Lanka, Thailand and South Korea.

Observers said that the formal endorsement by India had to be seen in the backdrop of a lot of behind-the-scenes activities already taking place for the last several months involving the candidatures of Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka and Ban ki Moon of South Korea.

The Bush administration is not expected to make a formal announcement on its support or backing that would include the strong candidacy of Thailand from the ASEAN group of until the very end of the process that is not expected to pick up traction till towards the end of the Fall season.