The Chairman of the Munich Security Conference announced that the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to open the conference this year.

The conference chairman Christoph Heusgen justified this decision in statements to the German News Agency (dpa) by the global anticipation for the most important meeting of politicians and experts worldwide.

He pointed out that although the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East will play an important role in the awaited conference scheduled between February 16 and 18, there is an anticipation to focus on the global system in general, explaining that for this reason the opening is planned to be done by the UN Secretary-General.

He added that for him, the question during the conference is: "How do we succeed in preventing the world from fragmenting amidst all these crises, and continue to give an opportunity for pluralism based on the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?"

It is noteworthy that Heusgen was an advisor for foreign political affairs to the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel for many years, and then was Germany's permanent representative to the United Nations.

The Munich Security Conference is scheduled to include around 50 heads of government and state as well as 100 ministers from around the world.

The United Nations Secretary-General had previously opened the conference in 2022.