United Nations Radio

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on UN member States to support the reform of the United Nations to make it more effective and efficient, by improving hiring and procurement practices, modernizing information and communication technologies and enhancing managerial accountability.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day debate in the General Assembly on management reform, he said his proposals rest on the three pillars of transparency, efficiency and accountability:

"Management reform is essential to enabling the United Nations to keep pace with the growing demands upon us. We have to be open to scrutiny. We have to hold each and every person accountable to you, the member States, and to the global taxpayers."

Mr. Ban noted that only by becoming more modern, more flexible and more efficient can the United Nations handle its increasing burden of responsibilities with its proportionately diminishing resources.

For United Nations Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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