President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Volkan Bozkir holds a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, on May 4, 2021. United Nations member states will gather Friday to hear the vision statement of incumbent Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who is running for the second term. (Xinhua/Xie E)
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- United Nations member states will gather Friday to hear the vision statement of incumbent Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who is running for the second term, president of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), said Tuesday.
"He (Guterres) will present his vision statement and take questions from member states in the General Assembly Hall, as well as questions from civil society, which have been collected also in advance," Volkan Bozkir told a press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York.
Selection of a secretary-general is an important issue for the UN, the UNGA president said.
In 2015, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution that set out a new, transparent, open and inclusive process to select and appoint a secretary-general, which involves presenting a vision statement.
According to Bozkir, there are currently one candidate and seven applicants wishing to run for the next UN secretary-general.
Talking about the difference between a candidate and an applicant, Bozkir said that he thinks "it is only when the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council sign a joint letter that an applicant can become a candidate."
Guterres became the ninth UN secretary-general on Jan. 1, 2017, succeeding Ban Ki-moon.
Guterres served as High Commissioner of the UN Refugee Agency from June 2005 to December 2015 and prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. Enditem
