Portugal's Antonio Guterres elected UN secretary-general

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next UN secretary-general, BBC reported.

He will become the world's top diplomat on 1 January when Ban Ki-moon's second five-year term ends.

Mr Guterres, 67, who led the UN refugee agency UNHCR for 10 years, was chosen from among 13 candidates last week.

He told the BBC that ending the civil war in Syria would be his biggest challenge.

"I believe it is the international community's first priority is to be able to end this conflict and use this momentum created by it to try to address all the other conflicts that are interlinked," he told the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

He said the world was facing a dangerous time and he wanted to see people across the globe working together to achieve a safer future.

"I hope people will understand that it's better to put aside different opinions, different interests and to understand that there is a common, vital interest to put an end to these conflicts, because that is absolutely central if you want to live in a world where a minimum of securities are established, where people can live a normal life," he said