Secretary-General welcomes US pledge of renewed engagement with UN

UNITED NATIONS. August 14. KAZINFORM Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon  welcomed yesterday the commitment to renewed United States engagement with the United Nations as stressed by US Ambassador Susan Rice, as well as the Government's recent contributions to the world body's budget.

"US leadership at the United Nations is essential, given the complex array of challenges facing the international community, from climate change, to issues of peace and security, to human rights," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a statement .

Ms. Rice told a gathering at New York University that "the UN is imperfect, but it is also indispensable. There can be no substitute for the legitimacy the UN can impart or its potential to mobilize the widest possible coalitions."

She added that the Organization is "essential to our efforts to galvanize concerted actions that make Americans safer and more secure," in her wide-ranging remarks, in which she also noted that the US was now in a position to clear all its peacekeeping arrears for the 2005-2008 period and meet its obligations in full for 2009.

The statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson stated that providing the resources necessary to allow the UN to undertake the jobs asked of it is essential, and that the Secretary-General welcomed the recent US contributions to the world body.

"The Secretary-General is committed to continuing the reform process and looks forward to working with the United States, and all the Member States of the United Nations, to ensure that the Organization can meet the demands asked of it by Member States in the most effective, efficient and accountable way possible," it added, Kazinform refers to the UN News Centre.