Portugal's former prime minister Antonio Guterres, who has been formally nominated to be the next UN secretary-general, says he faces ``huge challenges'' and hopes to see unity and consensus during his term.
Security Council President Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, said members approved a resolution by acclamation recommending Guterres for a five year term during a closed-door meeting.
The council's recommendation now goes to the General Assembly for formal approval, which is virtually certain.
The 193-member world body is expected to vote on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's successor next week. Ban's second five year term ends on December 31.
Speaking at the Foreign Ministry in Lisbon, Guterres said that he hoped the consensus vote in the council, which has been deeply divided over Syria and many other issues, would turn out to be symbolic, bringing ``swift decisions which the troubled world we live in demands.''
Ban told reporters in Rome that he considers Guterres ``a superb choice.''
He praised his ``deep compassion'' as UN refugee chief for 10 years ``for the millions of people who have been forced from their homes,'' as well as ``his wide knowledge of world affairs and his lively intellect.''
Russia's Churkin called Guterres a ``great choice,'' describing him to reporters after the vote as ``a person who talks to everybody, speaks his mind, a very outgoing, open person.''
He cited Guterres' experience as prime minister and as the UN refugee chief where he travelled the world and saw ``some of the most gruesome conflicts we have to deal with.''
Guterres topped all six informal polls in the council after receiving high marks from almost every diplomat for his performance in the first-ever question-and-answer sessions for candidates in the General Assembly.
He was the only candidate of the 10 in the race to receive no ``discourage'' votes in Wednesday's poll, which was the first to use coloured ballots to distinguish the votes of the five veto-wielding permanent members _ the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
The result disappointed campaigners for a woman or an East European to be the world's top diplomat for the first time.
``Antonio Guterres has won this race because he was the best candidate for the race,'' Britain's UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said before entering Thursday's meeting.
Guterres will almost certainly select a woman as deputy secretary-general and he said in the interview that one of the things that is ``crucial'' at the male-dominated United Nations is ``to have gender parity.''
He said that his 10 years as the UN high commissioner for refugees, which ended in December, were ``excellent preparation'' for a secretary-general who needs to be an honest broker and be seen by countries as independent in order to promote consensus and overcome crises.
``I think we are living in a world where we see a multiplication of new conflicts, and you see an enormous difficulty in solving the conflicts,'' Guterres said.
``There is a clear lack of capacity in the international community to prevent and to solve conflicts.''
