United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will commence his duties as secretary general on January 1, 2017, succeeding Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Guterres took the oath of office on December 12th in a ceremony presided over by the president of the UN General Assembly. Mr. Guterres, a former Socialist prime minister of Portugal, former UN high commissioner for refugees, and president of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005, then delivered an address outlining his priority to restore trust in the United Nations. “Our duty to the people we serve,” he said, “is to work together to move from fear of each other to trust in each other. Trust in the values that bind us, and trust in the institutions that serve us.” Mr. Guterres emphasized the important role that the UN could play in preventing conflicts. He also wants the UN to become a more nimble institution which focuses “more on delivery and less on process, more on people and less on bureaucracy.”
