The United Nations is not living up to its potential, US President Donald Trump has said in his first speech at the United Nations.
“Focus more on people, less on bureaucracy,” he told a special meeting on reform which was held at UN headquarters in New York.
No state should bear a disproportionate share of costs, he said.
The US pays 28.5% of the overall peacekeeping bill, which Mr. Trump has called unfair.
The American leader is due to deliver a longer speech when he addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
While still a candidate for the US presidency, Mr. 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.
Mr 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).
