UN General Assembly to appoint Antonio Guterres as next Secretary General

The UN General Assembly will today formally appoint Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres as the next Secretary-General of the world body to replace Ban Ki-moon. 

The 15-nation Security Council had last week in a closed door session decided by acclamation to send Guterres's name to the 193-member General Assembly for final approval.



Mr Guterres will succeed Mr Ban as the 9th Secretary General when Mr Ban's tenure ends on December 31. 

Mr Guterres term as the world's top diplomat will be from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and then had served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.