Buenos Aires, November 25 (NA) – The members of the United Nations General Assembly officially began today the process of selecting and appointing the next Secretary-General of the organization, to replace Portuguese António Guterres, who took office in 2017. Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said in a statement that she signed a joint letter with the President of the UN Security Council, Michael Imran Kanu, to formally initiate the selection and appointment process. Likewise, the President of the UNGA and the President of the Security Council invite the UN Member States to nominate candidates for the position of UN Secretary-General, who will take office on January 1, 2027. The letter includes a call for Member States to consider the nomination of a woman for the position, according to the Noticias Argentinas agency, via Xinhua. "The selection of the next Secretary-General takes place at a crucial time for the United Nations. We face growing conflicts, a rapidly advancing climate crisis, expanding humanitarian needs, persistent obstacles to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and a growing rollback of human rights," said Baerbock. The multilateral system, with the UN at its center, is under increasing financial and political pressures and at the same time, "the world needs the United Nations more than ever before," she added.
