Antonio Guterres has been elected UN Secretary-General for a second term. Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the Security Council, announced his candidacy for the post on Friday.
Guterres replaced Ban Ki-moon in January 2016, just weeks before US President Donald Trump was sworn in. A big part of the first term has been spent trying to keep Trump calm.
Since coming to power, Trump has repeatedly questioned the values and multilateralism of the United Nations. He also cut funding for a number of organizations, including the World Health Organization.
The United States contributes 22 percent of the agency’s regular budget and a quarter of peacekeeping missions. Incumbent US President Joe Biden has begun reinstating funding for UN agencies that Trump cut.
His term was to end on December 31, 2021. Being re-elected, his second chapter will start from January 1, 2022. Guterres will remain in that position until December 31, 2026. He took the oath after being elected.
After being sworn in, Guterres, 72, said, he would go beyond power to work for the future of the people. According to analysts, dealing with Corona in the second chapter is the biggest challenge for Guterres. He will have to deal with diplomatic disputes between member countries over issues ranging from the global immunization program to the Corona epidemic.
Guterres, 72, served as Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002. He was then the head of the UN refugee agency from 2005 to 2015.
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