UN chief to assist Russia, US in overcoming differences

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he will do everything in his capacity to make sure that the US and Russia are able to overcome their differences.

"There is no fundamental contradiction from the geostrategic point of view between the US and the Russian Federation in relation to Syria or in relation to broader issues," Guterres said on Thursday at the Russian think tank Valdai Discussion Club, Xinhua reported.

"I think that the interests of the two countries coincide. Unfortunately, things have developed and the two countries found themselves to a certain extent indirectly fighting each other," he said, adding that this should be corrected.

In his view, the world is somewhat in chaos and the main objective of the international community should be to structure a multipolar world.

A multipolar world is not enough, Guterres said, giving the example of multipolar Europe before World War I, which went into war because there were no multilateral mechanisms of governance and rules-based international relations at that time.

"So we need to move progressively into a multipolar world but strengthening multilateral institutions and strengthening the rules-based set of international relations," said the UN chief.

--IANS

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