UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump on Monday warned "bureaucracy" is holding the United Nations back, a barbed message during his first appearance at an institution he once derided as a talking shop.
Kicking off a frantic week of diplomacy with a panel discussion on UN reform, Trump noted a personal history with the New York-based institution.
He had seen "great potential right across the street" from UN headquarters, Trump said, referencing his nearby 72-floor residential skyscraper Trump World Tower.
"To be honest with you, and it was only for the reason that the United Nations was here that that turned out to be such a successful project," the businessman-turned-president told delegates.
But Trump also warned that the United States — a founding member of the UN and its biggest financial contributor — wanted a better return on its investment.
"The United Nations was founded on truly noble goals" he said, adding that while progress has been made "in recent years the United Nations has not reached its full potential, because of bureaucracy and mismanagement."
"While the United Nations on a regular budget has increased by 140 percent, and its staff has more than doubled since 2000, we are not seeing the results in line with this investment."
He called on the institution to "focus on results," a call that was echoed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said a reformed UN needs to focus "more on people and less on process."
While still a candidate for the US presidency, Trump sharply criticised the UN, speaking of its "utter weakness and incompetence".
"It has not reached its potential because of the bureaucracy and mismanagement," he said on Monday.
He encouraged member states to take a "bold stand" to change the UN's business-as-usual approach rather than "be beholden to ways of the past which are not working".
He called on the new Secretary General, António Guterres, to make changes.
Guterres responded by agreeing that excessive red tape kept him up at night.
"Someone out to undermine the UN could not have come up with a better way to do it than by imposing some of the rules we have created ourselves," said the Portuguese diplomat.
President Trump also complained that the US was "not seeing results in line with US investment".
Under pressure from the Trump administration, the UN has already cut its budget by more than $500m (£370m).
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said Trump's criticisms were accurate at the time, but that it is now a "new day" at the UN An organization that "talked a lot but didn't have a lot of action" has given way to a "United Nations that's action-oriented," she said, noting the Security Council votes on North Korea this month.
Guterres has proposed a massive package of changes, and Haley said the UN is "totally moving toward reform."
"We said that we needed to get value for our dollar and what we're finding is the international community is right there with us in support of reform. So it is a new day at the UN." she said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." She said Trump's pleas had been heard and "what we'll do is see him respond to that."
Trump also planned to hold separate talks Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron. U.S. national security adviser HR McMaster
said the conversations would be wide-ranging, but that "Iran's destabilizing behavior" would be a major focus of Trump's discussions with both leaders.