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Guterres.

Guterres appointed UN secretary general

UNITED NATIONS, October 13, 2016

The UN General Assembly has appointed António Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal, as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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.

The 193 member states of the General Assembly adopted a resolution by acclamation, appointing Guterres as the ninth UN Secretary-General to take over from Ban Ki-moon, whose tenure will end on December 31, 2016.

Ban from South Korea was appointed in 2006.

The new Secretary-General will assume the role in January 2017 and will serve a five-year term, which can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.

Ban said Guterres is “an excellent choice," noting that the two had worked closely during Guterres “long and outstanding tenure” as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Guterres had emerged as the frontrunner in all the six informal polls conducted in the Security Council to select the secretary-general amid a heightened call by several UN member states and civil society organisations to elect a woman chief for the world body, which has had a man at its helm for all the 71 years of its existence.




Tags: UN | Ban | secretary general |

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