Trump's maiden UN speech calls for an end to bureaucracy

United States President Donald Trump has used his first appearance at the United Nations to call for "truly bold reforms" to cut through the organisation's bureaucracy.

Trump said that while the United Nations had been founded on "truly noble goals"‚ it had not reached "its full potential".

He said the UN budget had increased by 140 percent and its staff had more than doubled since 2000 but "we are not seeing results in line with this investment".

During his election campaign‚ Trump was a harsh critic of the United Nations‚ calling it incompetent.

But during his first official meeting at the UN‚ a debate on UN reform‚ he softened his tone somewhat‚ but used the speech to call on Secretary General Antonio Guterres to "fully use his authority to cut through the bureaucracy" and to focus "more on people and less on bureaucracy".

Guterres said he was asked recently what kept him up at night and he had responded "bureaucracy".

He assured Trump and member states that he would focus more on "delivery and less on bureaucracy". The annual General Assembly gets under way on Monday with 100 heads of state and government currently in New York ahead of the debates which start on Tuesday.

Trump will make his official debate speech on Tuesday.