Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I think most of you know that one of my chief aims, ever since I took over as Secretary-General, has been to make the United Nations more useful –to its member states and to the peoples of the world –by making it more efficient and effective. And I always say that, in order to do that, we must be prepared to change with the times –constantly adjusting to new conditions and new needs.

That was the objective of my Reform Report that I introduced in my first year, and subsequent initiatives –and it is the object of the new Report, which I am publishing today.

The object is not to reduce the budget, or to respond to any pressures or conditions imposed from the outside. It is my own initiative, and I am making it because –like the Heads of State and Government who adopted the Millennium Declaration two years ago –I intend to “spare no effort to make the United Nations a more effective instrument” for pursuing the priorities that Member States have set.

This new set of changes will build on the improvements we've already achieved. The UN has changed a lot in the last five years. But the world continues to change, and we must change with it.

What I am putting before you today is a package of very pragmatic improvements. Taken individually they may not strike you as very dramatic. But taken together, they amount to a very different way of doing business. If all of them are successfully implemented, we may really begin to feel that this Organisation is up to the job the world has given it.

Let me mention just a few of the proposals I am making:

- First, a thorough review of our work programme –to make sure we are doing what matters, and not wasting time or money on out-of-date or irrelevant tasks.

- Second, more detailed proposals for improving our performance in the areas of human rights and public information. In particular, our network of UN information centres is going to be reorganized around regional hubs, starting with western Europe.

- Third, a reduction in the number of meetings, and of reports that the Secretariat has to produce. I think we can help the General Assembly and the other decision-making bodies to do a much better job if we concentrate our efforts in fewer reports and meetings, and avoid duplication.

- Fourth, some important changes in our budget and planning system. At the moment we have three different processes, covering different time scales, and there are three different oversight and review mechanisms. This is unnecessarily complex and labour-intensive.

- Fifth, I am proposing a review aimed at finding better ways to organize relations between the United Nations and civil society, in all its aspects. For this I shall appoint an independent panel, composed of people from different backgrounds –governments, NGOs, research institutions, parliaments, and so on –as well as from different regions of the world.

- And finally there are proposals aimed at making life better and more rewarding for our staff, as well as further improving their quality and performance –notably by making it easier for them to move, between locations, between functions, and indeed between organisations.

Let me stress that this is an agenda for change. It will take time to implement. And while I can and will make some of the changes on my own authority, there are many that will require the approval of the General Assembly. The whole package will only work if it is enthusiastically supported –by the staff, by governments, and by the general public.

That's why I am anxious to come and present it to you in person –and why I shall now be happy to answer your questions.