Russia and the United States, two of the world's central countries, should overcome their differences, newly elected UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Sputnik, underscoring his role as a peacemaker.

Guterres, former prime minister of Portugal whose candidacy was approved by the UN General Assembly on Thursday, will take up his duties to succeed Ban Ki-moon on January 1, 2017. 

"I will be delighted to do everything I can to support confidence and trust to be increased among states in general, and of course obviously the United States and Russia are two absolutely central countries in today's world," Guterres said. 

Guterres told Sputnik that he expected Russia and the United States to show strong commitment to ensure peace and to make effective efforts to fight terrorism.

“What I expect from the United States is the same I expect from the Russian Federation – a strong commitment to make sure that we will be able to succeed in creating the conditions for peace to become our global first priority and with peace to allow for also much more effectiveness in the capacity to defeat terrorism that is today a global threat to our populations,” he said. 

Pointing out that the UN secretary-general is "not the leader of the world" but a chief administrator, Guterres nonetheless affirmed his intention to facilitate reconciliation between Moscow and Washington. "I will always strongly encourage these two countries to come together, because I am absolutely sure if these two countries come together, they will have an enormous capacity to mobilize others to make sure the contradictions we are still facing can be overcome," he stressed.

Source: MENA