Antonio Guterres: podcast appearances and interviews

António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, born on April 30, 1949, in Lisbon, is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who has served as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Portuguese Socialist Party, Guterres previously served as the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He studied physics and electrical engineering at Lisbon's Instituto Superior Técnico and briefly taught systems theory and telecommunications. His involvement in politics began through activity in a Catholic youth group. Guterres was the secretary-general of the Socialist Party from 1992 to 2002 and led the party to legislative victories in 1995 and 1999. After announcing his resignation as party leader in 2002 following electoral losses, he remained prime minister until a subsequent election resulted in a change of government. Despite this political shift, polling in 2012 and 2014 ranked him among the best Portuguese prime ministers of the previous 30 years. Guterres served as President of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005 and was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015, during which he reformed the agency and addressed multiple global refugee crises. Elected secretary-general in October 2016, he succeeded Ban Ki-moon and became the first European to hold the position since Kurt Waldheim in 1981. In his role, Guterres has prioritized issues such as peace, human rights, climate change, refugee protection, and diplomatic engagement with controversial global actors. He has held numerous advisory, board, and leadership roles in various international organizations and has received multiple honors, honorary doctorates, and awards for his contributions to diplomacy and global leadership.