Guterres has achieved “baby steps” with his perseverance

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, praised this Monday the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, considering that he has achieved “small steps, even in difficult areas”, with his perseverance.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke with journalists at the UN headquarters in New York, after a meeting with António Guterres.

According to the Head of State, António Guterres has demonstrated “great coherence” since taking office as UN Secretary General at the beginning of 2017, “defining certain objectives as priorities”, such as climate and sustainable development goals.has persisted in these objectives, in these goals“.

In between there were very varied problems, perhaps the most recent being the pandemic and the war. [na Ucrânia]but first the difficulty of understanding that existed between great powers at crucial moments,” he noted.

According to the President of the Republic, faced with “a systematic paralysis of the Security Council”, there is now “an increasingly important role of the General Assembly, but the secretary general is a central figure“.

Don’t give up on goals, don’t give up on objectives. At the same time he maintains dialogue with those who do not speak to each other, but manages to do so, they speak with the general secretary. And, therefore, he takes small steps, even in difficult areas,” he added.

The President of the Republic arrived in New York on Sunday night to participate in the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.

The general debate between heads of State and Government of the 193 member countries of the UN begins on Tuesday, the day on which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will speak.

The 78th session of the UN General Assembly has as its theme “Rebuilding trust and rekindling global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all people.