We are pleased to have António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres and family visit Sukau Rainforest Lodge at the end of July 2015. Guterres is a former Portuguese politician, prime minister and former President of the Socialist International. He has been serving as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since June 2005.
Before joining UNHCR, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as a Portuguese prime minister from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor. As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the so-called Lisbon Agenda and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He also founded the Portuguese Refugee Council in 1991 and was part of the Council of State of Portugal from 1991 to 2002.
From 1981 to 1983, Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as chairman of the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees. In addition, he has been active in Socialist International, a worldwide organisation of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999 and president from 1999 until mid-2005.
Guterres was born on April 30th 1949, in Lisbon and educated at the Instituto Superior Técnico, where he remains a visiting professor.
