UNITED NATIONS, March 11 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed the UN General Assembly on Tuesday about proposals to reform the UN's development work, according to a UN spokesperson.

    During the informal briefing, the UN chief stressed that "if the development machinery of the United Nations is weak, the entire international system is weak," Michele Montas said.

    Ban, however, warned that the level of resources available to the organization to deliver on its development mandates, instead of increasing accordingly, has in fact decreased, Montas said.

    The secretary-general said a report he has prepared, in response to last year's General Assembly resolution on reforming the UN's development work, will be formally introduced later this week by the Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro to the Fifth Committee, which handles finance affairs.

    He cautioned against over-stretch in the secretariat, with more mandates, accompanied by a decrease in resources, and said, in addressing the capacity gaps, a modest increase in resource level has been proposed, to provide for 150 additional posts at an estimated cost of 25.5 million U.S. dollars.