Restrained Trump stirs UN to become great

UNITED NATIONS: President Donald Trump used his United Nations debut yesterday to prod the international organisation to cut its bloated bureaucracy and fulfil its mission. But he pledged US support for the world body he had excoriated as a candidate, and his criticisms were more restrained.

``In recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential due to bureaucracy and mismanagement,’' Trump said. ``We are not seeing the results in line with this investment.’'

He urged the UN to focus ``more on people and less on bureaucracy’' and to change ``business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working’'. He also suggested the US was paying more than its fair share to keep the New York-based world body operational.

The short remarks at a forum on UN reforms were a precursor to today’s main event, when Trump will address the UN General Assembly for the first time, a speech nervously awaited by world leaders concerned about what the president’s ``America first’' vision means for the future of the world body.

Trump riffed on his campaign slogan when asked to preview his central message to the General Assembly, saying: ``I think the main message is `make the United Nations great’ – not `again’. `Make the United Nations great’.’'

``Such tremendous potential, and I think we’ll be able to do this,’' he added.

But even as the president chastised the UN, he pledged that the US would ``be partners in your work’' to make the organisation a more effective force for peace across the globe.

He praised the UN’S early steps toward reform and made no threats to withdraw US support. His more measured tone stood in sharp contrast to the approach he took at Nato’s new Brussels headquarters in May, when he scolded member nations for not paying enough and refused to explicitly back its mutual defence pact.

While running for office, Trump had labelled the UN as weak and incompetent, and not a friend of either the US or Israel. But he has softened his message since taking office, telling ambassadors at a White House meeting in April that the UN has ``tremendous potential’'.

Trump more recently has praised a pair of unanimous U.N. Security Council votes to tighten sanctions on North Korea over its continued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. – AP