UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday extended warm greetings for Nowruz, or the Persian New Year.

"For more than 300 million people, Nowruz is about new beginnings -- the beginning of a new year, the arrival of spring, the renewal of nature," he told an event organized by a dozen of delegations to celebrate Nowruz, which falls on spring equinox.

"Nowruz unites communities beyond borders. It promotes peace and solidarity within families and between generations. It encourages reconciliation and good neighbourliness. Its values echo those that we together promote at the United Nations every day and everywhere."

The beginning of a new year brings with it a sense of fresh possibility, he said. "It gives us a chance to renew our commitment to peace, sustainable development and human rights. It is an opportunity to renew our pledge to human dignity and our promise to leave no one behind. It is an occasion to strengthen our new resolve to our path toward building a prosperous future for all while living in harmony with nature."