WEB DESK
Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, was today sworn in as the ninth UN Secretary-General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon as the chief of the world body.
President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson administered the Oath of Office to Guterres at a special plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly at the United Nations.
Guterres, 67, was unanimously appointed by the General Assembly as the successor to Ban, after the 15-nation Security Council had in October decided by acclamation to send his name to the Assembly for final approval.The former UN refugee chief takes over from Ban on January 1.
Addressing the UN General Assembly after the swearing in ceremony, the new UN Secretary-General has vowed to reform the 71-year-old world body, making it decentralised and flexible to improve its ability to respond to global crises.He said the organisation is the cornerstone of multilateralism, and has contributed to decades of relative peace, but the challenges are now surpassing our ability to respond.