Obama meets UN Secretary-General-designate Antonio Guterres

"From the perspective of the United States, the UN is a critical partner in almost everything that we do," Obama told reporters as he met Guterres at the Oval Office yesterday.

"It is a linchpin of the post-World War II order, and through Democratic and Republican administrations, our partnership with the United Nations has allowed us to help resolve conflicts, to provide development assistance where it's sorely needed, to tackle big transnational challenges like refugee flows or, more recently, like climate change," Obama said.

"At a time when those challenges are mounting and there's great uncertainty around the world, having an effective partner in the United Nations Secretary General will be critically important," he said welcoming Guterres.

Obama said he has emphasised to current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon how important the US considers the UN but also how important it is, to make sure that the UN operates efficiently, that money is well-spent.

"We live in a dangerous world. We are all aware of that. We have seen a multiplication of conflicts. Old conflicts seem never to die," Guterres said, adding that it is true the international community has lost a lot of its capacity to prevent and to solve conflicts.

"On the other hand, the globalisation that has been an extremely important driver of economic growth, the reduction of poverty in many parts of the world has also left people behind. This has been the cause of unrest and instability in many parts of the world," he said.

"The human rights agenda that is so dear to us all, we also see many difficulties in relation to it, when national sovereignty sometimes tends to make it difficult for human rights to be effective and to be promoted," he said.

The UN Secretary-General designate said that in all areas the leadership of the United States is absolutely crucial.

"And in all these areas, I believe that we need a UN

that is more effective, more cost-effective, more able to serve the people with a very strong reform-minded approach," he said.

"The US has always been a driver for reforming the UN, and I'm deeply committed to pursue that objective to make sure that the UN can be a positive partner in the efforts that the US is leading," Guterres said.