Off the wire
• Bulgaria hosts official launch of EU Border and Coast Guard Agency  • Albania's number of registered unemployed goes down in Q2: data  • Japanese encephalitis claims 38 lives in 4 weeks in India's Odisha  • Roundup: Britain green lights first horizontal fracking site  • China's World Cup hope slim after a defeat to Syria (updated)  • S. Africa stocks close weaker Thursday  • Roundup: UN Syria envoy makes emotional appeal to stop violence in war-torn Aleppo  • Workers' union threatens to drag Namibian gov't to ILO  • Xinhua World News Summary at 1600 GMT, Oct. 6  • U.S. stocks decline ahead of nonfarm payrolls  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: UN chief hails nominee Guterres as "excellent choice"

Xinhua, October 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The choice of former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as nominee for next UN chief would be an "excellent" one, current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.

The UN Security Council on Thursday formally decided to recommend Guterres to head the United Nations for the next five years, starting from Jan. 1, 2017.

Ban made his remarks on the sideline of a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella here.

"I know Guterres very well, and I consider it (is) an excellent choice," Ban told reporters after the meeting.

"He has a large experience as Portuguese prime minister, and a wide knowledge of world affairs, which would serve him well in leading the UN in a crucial period," he added.

Guterres, 67, had been for long the chief of the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Under the UN Charter, the UN Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, the Security Council, particularly its five permanent members, will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.

Ban is going to conclude his term at the end of 2016. Endit