New York: The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution appointing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a second term as head of the United Nations, dpa said.
The body confirmed the 72-year-old Portuguese diplomat on Friday in New York for another five years in office.
The resolution was adopted unanimously. No other candidate had stood for the role.
In his acceptance speech, Guterres called for more international cooperation, saying the world was “at the cusp of a new era.”
“It can go either way: breakdown and perpetual crisis or breakthrough and prospect of a greener, safer and better future for all,” the 72-year-old said after his appointment.
“There are reasons to be hopeful,” the Portuguese diplomat added.
“Paradigms are shifting. Old orthodoxies are being flipped. We are writing our own history with the choices we make right now,” Guterres said.
The complex challenges of the future could only be solved with a “humble approach: One in which the secretary-general alone neither has all the answers, nor seeks to impose his views,” Guterres said.
He also pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic had thwarted progress made in reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing poverty and hunger, improving access to education and gender equality.
One of the biggest challenges for Guterres, who has led the UN since 2017, could be the fight against the climate crisis. The secretary-general has repeatedly painted a grim picture of a world on the precipice and urged the largest carbon-emitting countries to take greater steps to curb rising temperatures.
The economic and social consequences of the pandemic are also likely to play a role in the future, as well as regional conflicts, including in Syria, Libya, Yemen and Myanmar.
The United Nations’ capacity to act could also be curtailed in the future due to tensions between the United States and China.
Earlier in the month, the UN Security Council had supported Guterres’ bid for a second term as secretary-general, a crucial hurdle in the process.
The UN chief’s new term is scheduled to start on January 1, 2022.
Source: Bahrain News Agency