‘I was quite sure that Antonio Guterres would be appointed’ - Eurasia Diary conducts exclusive interview with Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes. Trainer of the Pool of trainers. Portuguese National Agency of the Erasmus+ project.

Eurasia Diary: We would like to know about your background and your career, please let us know in detail?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: I have Master degree in Tourism, Innovation & Development, which has been complemented by ongoing training in order to complement the knowledge, expand the domain of action and simultaneously acquire more knowledge in other emerging areas. My professional experience has been mainly directed to the areas of Tourism and Hospitality. However lately I have devoted more attention to the Social Area and I am currently working the Portuguese National Agency of the Erasmus+ project, as a Trainer of the Pool of trainers.

I’m also the Project Manager of the Intercultural Association for All, an association that is linked to the International Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (Portugal), working mainly with Erasmus Students from the University, and Erasmus+ projects.

Eurasia Diary: Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese Prime Minister, will be the next UN Secretary-General. As a citizen of Portugal, did you expect that the next UN Secretary-General would be a Portugal national?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: After seeing the other candidates I was 99% sure that Antonio Guterres is the right person. Refugees are one of the biggest problems which we are facing now and taking into consideration his experience with refugees I was quite sure that Antonio Guterres would be selected.

Eurasia Diary: How do you see Mr. Antonio Guterres as far as his personality is concerned?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: Well, as you know, Antonio Guterres was the Prime Minister of Portugal like 15 years ago. All politicians try to change a bit their personalities and sometime we do not even know the exact personality of the person. But what he was trying to show everyone was that he is a very persuasive and very kind person. I think he is trying to achieve his goals by being very friendly…. not imposing but trying to understand of being friendly.

Eurasia Diary: What kind of expectations do you have from Antonio Guterres?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: I am glad that Antonio Guterres has been appointed as the next UN Secretary-General. The expectations are the same as we have from all the United Nations Secretaries-General to solve the conflicts all around the world and the problems with refugees in which Antonio Guterres has very good experience. We want to see the safe world. We obviously know that this is not one person’s task and he is not going to solve all problems, for sure, but at least he can find the way to negotiate between countries because everything is about big negotiations between the countries. So, at this time, he is a right person to play that role and I expect him to change a lot of things. Even by the feedbacks of all the politicians, they all were trying to say that this time this election was quite trustful. There were no any tricky parts around the selection process. I am really confident about the future.

Eurasia Diary: In your opinion, how will he start to deal with all issues of the UN in the world that are quite difficult?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: That would be great if he could deal with all the problems but we know that there are some problems, which cannot be solved by one person. For example,  the issues in Crimea. Moreover, we still have problems in Azerbaijan with Armenia. We have a huge problem in Syria and in Africa. I think, he is going to focus on the main problems now. In my opinion, he will start with refugees and with the problem in Syria. That is the first step.

Eurasia Diary: People have very strong expectations that the next United Nations Secretary-General should be a woman. What is your attitude towards this claim?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: For me the gender does not matter. If we are searching for the right person for the right place, we need to focus on the person, not on the gender. We are not searching for male or female, we are always searching for the right person. I think it was the correct choice.

Eurasia Diary: What kind of implications can be identified for people of Portugal after this successful appointment of Antonio Guterres as the next UN Secretary-General?

Mr. Vitor Ricardo dos Santos Mendes: Well, I do not see any negative implications for Portugal. Talking about positive implications, I can say that Portugal is a small country and the fact that we have someone famous abroad is very good. Now we have Humberto Delgado Rosa at the European Commission and now we are going to have Antonio Guterres as UN Secretary-General. Therefore, it is a really high position and we are really glad that he is a Portuguese. 

Interview by: Anastasia Lavrina