UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (File photo)
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday appointed Antonio Guterres as the UN secretary-general for a second five-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2022.
President of the 75th UNGA session Volkan Bozkir has officially announced the appointment.
Speaking to reporters after the appointment, Guterres said that he will take on the responsibility of serving a second term as secretary-general "with profound gratitude and a deep commitment to work together to advance the UN Charter at a time of great peril and promise."
"The pandemic has revealed our shared vulnerability, our inter-connectedness and the absolute need for collective action," the secretary-general said.
Talking about his 10 "inter-related imperatives for action," Guterres said that the first starts with "mounting a massive and enduring response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences."
"This is a time to strengthen multilateralism. This is a time to understand that each country alone can do nothing, that independently of the divisions that exist, countries must come together," he said.
"To rebuild trust is the way to make the impossible possible," he noted.
