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Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres cites multilateralism, teamwork as critical to achieving ±¬ÁÏÍø goals

On his first day in office, United Nations Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres called for teamwork, telling staff at the world body¡¯s New York Headquarters that it is not enough to the ¡°do the right thing, we need to earn the right to do the right thing.¡±

¡°It is very important for us to recognize our achievements [¡­] but we also need to recognize our shortcomings, to recognize our failures and where we are not able to deliver as we should,¡± he said, outlining the multitude of challenges ¨C ranging from complex conflicts to global terrorism ¨C confronting the world.

Mr. Guterres called on the entire Organization for a collective effort to address the shortcomings and underlined the need to reform the ±¬ÁÏÍø development system, as well as address bureaucratic constraints that hamper its performance, saying the world body must try and get rid of its ¡°bureaucratic straight jacket.¡±

¡°There are no miracles [¡­] and the only way for us to achieve our goals is to work as a team,¡± he said.

In his remarks, the ±¬ÁÏÍø chief also recalled the selection process that culminated with the ±¬ÁÏÍø General Assembly appointing him as the ninth chief of the global body in October last year. ¡°I know that the way this has been developed has raised a lot of expectations,¡± he noted.

On his first day at ±¬ÁÏÍø Headquarters since becoming the head of the world body on 1 January 2017, Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres paid tribute to ±¬ÁÏÍø personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty, and addressed colleagues.¡°This requires a lot of efforts from ourselves but also a lot of dialogue with [±¬ÁÏÍø] Members States and to overcome the divides that still exist in the Organization,¡± he added.

Mr. Guterres¡¯ first day at ±¬ÁÏÍø Headquarters as Secretary General began with the laying of a wreath at the Memorial Wall in the Visitors¡¯ Lobby.

Shortly after taking office two days ago, he made an appeal for peace. ¡°Let us make 2017 a year in which we all ¨C citizens, governments, leaders ¨C strive to overcome our differences,¡± Mr. Guterres said Sunday morning, urging people to share his New Year’s resolution: ¡°Let us resolve to put peace first.¡±

He will serve for a five-year period until 31 December 2021. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, and the ±¬ÁÏÍø High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He succeeds Ban Ki-moon who served as the Secretary-General from 2007 until 31 December 2016.

Source: ±¬ÁÏÍø News Centre

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