WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said here on Friday that the United Nations needs strong U.S. engagement and a "very solid cooperation" between the United States and the United Nations.
Guterres made the remarks while meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Guterres noted that he is "a true believer that we live in a messy world but we need a strong, reformed and modernized UN."
For his part, Trump said that the United Nations has tremendous potential, but it has not been used over the years "nearly as it should be."
Trump described the United Nations as "almost a power to bring people together like nothing else," adding he has "a feeling that things are going to happen with the United Nations like you haven't seen before."
"We've become friends," said Trump.
"You need talent, and he's got the talent," he said, gesturing to Guterres. "We'll see what happens. I'll report back to you in about seven years."
The White House host has been at odds with the United Nations ever since his presidential campaign. He hammered the United Nations for what he called bureaucracy and "mismanagement."
Trump's latest decision to pull the United States out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a UN watchdog enduring snowballing U.S. arrears for over a decade, has delivered a huge blow to the operation of the agency and raised eyebrows all over the world.
