¡¡UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Allegations of corruption surrounding the now-defunct Oil-for-Food program for Iraq will notderail efforts to reform the United Nations, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday.

    Annan told reporters as he entered the UN Headquarters in New York after returning from Geneva that reform is a long-term proposal and it's a proposal which is going to have a longer term impact on the organization.

    "I do not expect it to derail the reform process," he said, referring to the allegations on the Oil-for-Food program. "We are determined to go ahead and I urge all the member states to go forward as well."

    The secretary-general's initiatives for the most sweeping overhaul of the United Nations in its 60-year history are contained in his report "In Larger Freedom."

    Annan acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations about Oil-for-Food as well as the mistakes made in connection with the program, adding that the United Nations had worked to rectify those errors.

    "We are taking measures to strengthen our own administration and transparency," he said. "The member states, who themselves arevery much aware of how the Oil-for-Food was set up, how it was managed, and how it was organized, are much more sanguine about the facts than most other people, and I hope they will focus on the work ahead and strengthen this institution."

    However, he also pointed out that "for some, the oil-for-food crisis will never die down."

    Annan named a high-level panel last year headed by former US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker to investigate the allegations of corruption surrounding the 64 billion-US dollar program.

    All relevant documents and files have been turned over to Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) and all staff members have been ordered to cooperate with its investigation on pain of dismissal.

    But the probe has itself been thrust into the spotlight over accusations that it covered up evidence critical of the UN leader.

    The IIC has so far issued two interim reports and is expected to release a final report by the end of June. Enditem