VIENNA (Sputnik) – Guterres, who is Portugal's former prime minister, is set to assume office on January 1, 2017. During the UN election, Guterres got unanimous support from the UN Security Council members. The UN secretary-general-designate also served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for some 10 years.
"[We] regard him as a worthy candidate, he used to pursue balanced policy on this difficult issue [related to the international organizations’ management] and [we] hope that he will act the same way in the positions of the new UN Secretary-General," Gatilov said.
Russian deputy foreign minister stressed that Guterres had considerable experience in addressing urgent and highly important issues and in managing international organizations.
Gatilov added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Guterres are expected to hold talks on the situation in the world and regional crises on November 24.
