UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Antonio Guterres is one of nine candidates to succeed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on January 1, 2017. He served as Portuguese Prime Minister in 1995-2002 and as UN Refugee Agency High Commissioner in 2005-2015.
"Being Commissioner for Refugees is to be in the center of all political conflicts in the world and to deal with all parties to any conflict in the world. I truly believe that I was able to always maintain what are crucial values of impartiality, independence. I believe I am respected in all those scenarios by the different parties because I was never an instrument of anybody against anybody… And it is the spirit I would like to have if I am elected Secretary-General," Guterres said.
He added that the future UN secretary-general must serve the world and respect the UN Charter.
"What for me is more important is to make a clear guarantee that the Secretary-General of the United Nations is there to serve the world and to respect Charter and not to be an instrument of anyone against anybody," Guterres said.
The United Nations faces the challenge of appointing a successor to Ban Ki-moon, whose term as the secretary-general expires on December 31. Before a nomination is officially announced, the UN Security Council is expected to conduct a series of straw polls to determine support for each candidate. The next rounds of straw polling are set for September 26 and the first week of October and will be presided over by Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin.
