New United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with US President-elect Donald Trump yesterday a week after Trump slammed the world body on Twitter. Guterres, a former Portuguese Prime Minister and UN refugee Chief who began his five-year term on Sunday, spoke by phone with Trump, who will take office on January, 20th, said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
Haq told reporters that this was an introductory phone call during which they had a very positive discussion on US/UN relations. The Secretary-General said that he looked forward to engaging with the President after his inauguration. Trump took to Twitter to disparage the 193-member world body after the United States abstained in a December, 23rd UN Security Council vote, allowing the adoption of a resolution demanding an end to settlement building by U.S. ally Israel. In an address to UN staff in New York on Tuesday, Guterres acknowledged that in some parts of the world there was a resistance and skepticism about the role of the United Nations.