(VOVworld) - After a vote on Thursday at the UN Security Council, Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, 67, was officially nominated to replace Ban Ki-moon, who will step down at the end of 2016, as UN Secretary General. Guterres must be approved by the General Assembly before his inauguration on January 1, 2017.

Antonio Guterres was officially nominated as UN Secretary General (Photo: Reuters)

Since July, the 15 members of the UN Security Council have held six straw polls and one final formal vote to select the next Secretary General. 

Born in Lisbon in 1949, Guterres studied electrical engineering and physics at the University of Lisbon. He is fluent in French, Spanish and English, as well as his native Portuguese. Mr Guterres was UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) for nearly a decade and has been praised for his "deep compassion" for the millions of people who have been forced to flee their homes to escape war, poverty, or natural disaster.