OREANDA-NEWS. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invited the ex-Chancellor of Germany, 67-year-old Angela Merkel, to take an advisory post in one of the structures of the United Nations. This was announced on Wednesday, January 19, the dpa news agency reports, citing sources.

According to the agency, Antonio Guterres is talking about the position of the chairman of the advisory council on global public goods that could benefit all of humanity. Among the competencies of this body should be issues of international regulation, in particular, in the field of trade or flight safety. The Advisory Body on Global Public Goods is one of Guterre's flagship projects, which he is promoting as part of UN reform. In June 2021, Guterres was confirmed as UN Secretary General for a second five-year term — from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026. The interlocutors of the dpa at the UN consider Merkel's agreement to take the proposed post unlikely. Officially, the organization does not comment on the fact of the offer. Representatives of the ex-Chancellor and she herself have not yet spoken on this matter either.

Angela Merkel has been the head of the German government since 2005. In October 2018, she announced that she would not participate in the Bundestag elections in 2021 as a candidate for the post of Chancellor of Germany.

In an exclusive interview with DW before leaving the post of head of the German cabinet, Merkel said that she was not going to engage in politics anymore. «I will not resolve political conflicts — I have been doing this for many years: 16 years as federal Chancellor, with pleasure in the European Union, at the international level, I have always advocated multilateralism», she stressed. «Right now I don't know what I'm going to do. I have already said: first I will rest a little, and then we will see what comes to my mind», Merkel added.