Indonesia Welcomes Antonio Guterres as Next UN Secretary General

Jakarta, 14 Muharram 1438/15 October 2016 (MINA) – The Indonesian government welcomed the selection of Antonio Guterres as the next UN Secretary General to replace Ban Ki-moon as the next year begins.

“Indonesia lauds the process of selecting the UN Secretary General which is carried out openly, inclusively and transparently,” Antara quoted a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received here on Friday as saying.

The Indonesian government will continue to support the United Nations, and the country hopes Antonio Guterres will perform his duties based on the UN Charter.

The Indonesian government urged the next UN Secretary General to promote the implementation of Agenda 2030, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the Paris Climate Agreement, through advocacy, partnership and UNs support.

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Furthermore, Indonesia expected that Guterres could encourage the reforms of the UN Secretariat to enhance accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in supporting the member states in the implementation of various commitments and the global agenda.

“Indonesia is ready to cooperate with the new UN Secretary General in maintaining world peace and order,” a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

“Honest broker” and humble approach

Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two five terms. Guterres was Portugals prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.

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Guterres pledged on Thursday to act as an “honest broker” and assured that he would adopt a humble approach in trying to deal with global issues, with human dignity at the core of his work.

“Diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart,” Guterres told the General Assembly.

“We must make sure that we are able to break this alliance between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side and the expressions of populism and xenophobia on the other side,” he added. “These two reinforce each other, and we must be able to fight both of them with determination.”(T/R07/R01)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)