Guterres set to be sworn in as next UN Secretary General

Former Portugal Prime Minister António Guterres is set to be sworn in today, as the next United Nations Secretary General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon who steps down at the end of the month.
Guterres, 67, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015.
He was formally appointed by the General Assembly on October 13 in what was the culmination of an historic process set in motion late last year: the selection of a new United Nations Secretary General, for the first time in history, involved public discussions with each candidate campaigning to be the organisation’s ninth chief.
These so-called ‘informal briefings’ between the candidates, UN Member States and civil society representatives kicked off on  April 12, when the first three candidates presented their ‘vision statements’ and answered questions on how they would promote sustainable development, improve efforts to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the organisation.
The 193-member General Assembly will pay tribute to outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for his exceptional contribution to the work of the organisation over the past decade. (Excerpt from UN News)