UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Xinhuanet) --UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said here Tuesday that he would stick to his agenda for the reform of the world body rather than resign amid charges against himself and some of the senior officials of the world body.

    When asked if he would step down as chief of the world body, Annan said" No."

    "I have lots of work to do and I am going to go ahead and do it," he told a told a press conference after the release of a report by the independent inquiry committee into the fraud and corruption charge of UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq. The report cleared him of any wrongdoing, but criticized him for failing to tackle the problem adequately.

    Annan said he accepted the criticism and was deeply saddened by the fact that his son failed to cooperate fully with the inquiry. I had urged him to cooperate and I urge him to reconsider his position and cooperate," the UN chief said.

    But Annan said he was happy with the report's findings that he committed no wrongdoing.

    "After so many distressing and untrue allegations have been made against me, this exoneration by the independent inquiry obviously comes as a great relief," Annan said.

    He promised greater efforts to correct the failings the independent investigation team has brought to light, act on its interim findings and contribute to the large objective of UN reform.

    "The members states of the United Nations, and their peoples, certainly have a right to expect that from now on we in the Secretariat will be more fully transparent in the way we carry out their mandates and their wishes, and that managers will be held clearly accountable for their performance," he said.

    It is not unusual that an institution of this size, and the government of this country or other country, problems do arise, "and we deal with the problems," he added. Enditem