The United Nations has formally appointed by acclamation the former Foreign Minister of Portugal, António Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General.
He will replace current Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon of South Korea at the end of December 2016. Ban has held the post since being appointed in 2006.
Mr. Guterres, aged 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He will become the world’s top diplomat on 1 January 2017, and hold that post for the next five years.
Members of the United Nations widely hailed the nomination of Guterres, with Ban calling him a “superb choice” for secretary-general.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin also called him “a great choice.”
“He’s a high level politician. He’s been prime minister of his country. He is a person who talks to everybody, listens to everybody, speaks his mind; very outgoing, I think open person,” he said.
