one hundred and twenty eight nations have signed on to the declaration as of this morning and we're still counting that is a super majority i thank our co-host today our friends from canada germany indonesia japan jordan nies year rwanda senegal slovakia thailand the united kingdom and your. most of all i thank all of you the fact that so many are committed to seeing the united nations succeed is gratifying it is a sign not only that change is desperately needed but that it will be achieved you are the reason change is coming to the u.n. it is now my honor to introduce someone who is no stranger to change donald trump has a business man's eye for seeing potential and he sees great potential not just in this reform movement but in the united nations itself he shares your commitment to

creating a more effective advocate for peace security and human rights we are deeply grateful he has taken the time to be with us today ladies and gentlemen president donald trump. well thank you very much thank you. i actually saw great potential right across the street to be honest with you and it was only for the reason that the united nations who was here that that turned out to be such a successful project so i want to thank you ambassador halley for your introduction and for your steadfast advocacy for american interests on the world stage on behalf of the cohost countries i would like to also thank secretary general good or us for and you have been fantastic for joining us and we affirm our commitment to the united nations reform and reform is what we're talking about i applaud the

secretary general for laying out a vision to reform the united nations so that it better serves the people we all represent we support your efforts to look across the entire system and to find ways the united nations can better and be better at development management peace and security the united nations was founded on truly noble goals these include affirming the dignity and worth of the human person and striving for international peace the united nations has helped advance toward these goals in so many ways feeding the hungry providing disaster relief. and empowering women and girls in many societies all across the world yet in recent years the united nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and

mismanagement while the united nations on a regular budget has increased by one hundred forty percent and its staff has more than doubled since two thousand we are not seeing the results in line with this investment but i know that under the secretary general that's changing and it's changing fast and we've seen it that's why we commend the secretary general and his call for the united nations to focus more on people and less on bureaucracy we seek a united nations that regains the trust of the people around the world in order to achieve this the united nations must hold every level of management accountable protect whistleblowers and focus on results rather than on process to honor the people of our nations we must ensure that no one and no member state

shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden and that militarily or financially we also ask that every peacekeeping mission have clearly defined goals and metrics for evaluating success they deserve to see the value in the united nations and it is our job to show it to them we encourage the secretary general to fully use his authority to cut through the bureaucracy reform outdated systems and make firm decisions to advance the un's core mission further we encourage all member states to look at ways to take bold stands at the united nations with an eye toward changing business as usual and not being behold. two ways of the past which were not working mr secretary general of the united states and the member states president to support this great reform

vision we pledge to be partners in your work and i am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms the united nations will emerge as a stronger more effective more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world thank you mr secretary general and i look forward to advancing the shared goals in the years to come and it is a great honor to be with you today thank you thank you. i came to the united nations about the same time as the secretary general he and i share a mission to find value in the u.n. we share the goal of a better united nations not a cheaper un or a more expensive un not a smaller one or a bigger one

a better united nations an organization with the trust and the capability to deliver on its mandate to promote peace security and human rights over the past eight months he has been a partner and become a friend his leadership brings us together today ladies and gentleman secretary general antonio good to. thank you mr president thank you very much for your engagement and the our support and they also sank in best that halley for our lives ship partnership and their commitments and i am very grateful to all the leaders here today excellencies ladies and gentleman. someone recently asked what keeps me up at night and my answer was simple bureaucracy fragmented structures byzantine procedures and less red

tape someone out to end their mind un could not have come up with a better way to do it then by imposing some of the rules we have created ourselves i even sometimes ask myself where there was this conspiracy to make our rules exactly what they need to be for us not to be effective but of our oh let us never forget that we are here to serve to serve the people people suffering in poverty or exclusion people victimized by conflict people whose rights and dignity are being denied but also people with ideas and dreams who need a helping hands reform is for them but reform is all for the for the hard working taxpayers and the right all the crucial work we do and reform is for everyone serving in the u.n. flag all of whom deserve the conditions to the vital job to serve the people we

support and the people who support us we must be nimble and effective flexible and efficient and we must do so keenly aware of our obligation to leap up to the value to live up to the values of the united nations charter together we are making progress on a broad and bold reform agenda to strengthen the united nations we have launched a game changing strategy to end sexual exploitation and abuse we have embarked on plans to achieve gender parity in the un to protect whistleblowers and stress and counterterrorism structures and we are reforming our peace and security architecture to ensure we are stronger in prevention more in jail in mediation and more effective and cost effective in peacekeeping operations. we are reforming our development system to become much more field focused well coordinated and the countable to better assist countries to the twenty thirty agenda for sustainable

development our contribution to a fair globalization and when they've been all these efforts we are pursuing sweeping management reform to simplify procedures to decentralize decisions with greater transparency efficiency and accountability these efforts reinforce each other and they are all grounded in overarching principles we are a global organization ninety percent of our personnel served in the fields and we need to bring this season's making decision maker making closer to the people we serve trust and empower managers reform cumbersome and costly budgetary procedures and eliminate duplicative structures mr president you often said and you repeated today that the un s three men this potential all of us have the responsibility to make sure we live up to it our shared objective is the twenty first century un focused more on people less on process and as you rightly said

more on the livery less on bureaucracy we know that the true test of reform will not be measured in words in new york or world capitals it will be measured to tangible results in the lives of the people we serve and the trust of those who support our work through their hard heard in the resources. value for money while advancing shared values that is all common goal and i thank you very much for your support for these vital issues mr president many thanks thank you thank you mr president and mr secretary general today is a great day but it's the beginning of a process not the end there are one hundred ninety three members of the united nations that means there are about seventy member states out there that have not

yet signed the declaration of support for united nations reform our mission leaving here today is to not be satisfied with less than a complete consensus on this reform agenda we are always stronger when we speak with one voice and the future of this institution is worth the extra mile our goal is to convince the delegations that have not yet signed the declaration to join the effort for a more efficient accountable and transparent un the united states believes we can make history by coming together as a true global community for reform in the coming weeks and months we will be considering the secretary general's broader vision this is an opportunity for all of us to seize this moment and ensure that the united nations remains relevant we must challenge traditional mindsets inertia and resistance to change we will do this together i hope we can count on your help thank you again and let's make it

a new day at the united nations. thank you. our goal is a twenty first century united nations focused more on people and less on process the words there of the u.n. secretary general and turn over turn as his speech followed an address by the u.s. president donald trump who spoke there at that forum which is a dressing the issue of u.n. reform with the u.s. president expressing support for terrorism is efforts to find a way as he put it for the u.n. to be better at development managing peace and security in the world feeding the hungry in disaster relief but he was also critical saying the u.n. had not reached its full potential but we've got our diplomatic editor genspace is still standing by live for us watching what's been going on so as i said there james you still had some criticism there about the doubling of budgets the increase

in staff. clear there that the u.s. president still sticking to some of the things he said on the campaign trail when it comes to the u.n. and how inefficient he sees it as being. yes but i think the u.n. can live with those criticisms i think they'll be very happy with the way this event unfolded because they have managed to turn this around then you have to really look there to the wily political skills of the new secretary general remember he is the secretary general who took office in a job that was supposed to go to an eastern european in a job that was supposed to go to a woman and yet he won out with his canny political skills and got the job and got the world to trust him now he was then dealt a very difficult hand taking over as secretary general exactly the same time as president trump was becoming the new u.s. pres new u.s. president with his america first policy and his apparent disdain for the u.s.

and the new secretary general initially kept his head down he did not want to put his head above the parapet he didn't want to get the honor of the new u.s. president and i think he worked very quietly behind the scenes with the new ambassador to the united nations of the u.s. nikki haley in trying to find a way forward that would benefit both i think the administration and certainly ambassador haley felt that the administration has enough problems it didn't want to war with the u.n. at the same time they had to stick with the things that the president had said on the campaign trail and the new secretary general wanted the freedom to reform the organization and so as i said earlier they align their interests here they are now supporting the secretary general's reform efforts the u.s. putting their support fully behind them giving him. some flexibility now to carry out the reforms and basically we had a call from the u.s. president to reform the u.n. and now this meeting they're almost saying that they think that some of that reform

has already been carried out i think it will be a good outcome for the u.n. i think they will also though know that among the words of president trump he talked about truly bold reform and as this process continues. and the reforms are actually carried out by the u.n. i think it's possible the u.s. will revisit this but for now the u.s. and the u.n. soon pretty comfortable together at this meeting i wouldn't say all the other member states are comfortable i think just in protocol terms the idea of one member state it may be the one that gives the most money sitting there on the podium with just the u.n. secretary general and all these u.s. officials that's not the way the u.n. normally works and i think there are some some noses out of joint interesting for example that yes you saw foreign ministers from some key allies of the u.s. where was the french foreign minister of france did belatedly sign this or they just sent a diplomat the foreign ministers here in new york he didn't attend this interesting

observation thanks for that james vases continue to discuss those other points which james was mentioning there with lots to it patrick he's director of international institutions and global governance at the council on foreign relations it's also the author of the sovereignty wars reconciling america with the world joins us live from washington d.c. good to have you back with us so we listen to a speech there and yes as james pointed out on the face of it it does seem to be some synergy there isn't theirs and stronger words of support from the u.s. president saying that he supports his efforts to find a way for the u.n. to be better. how much real synergy do you see reading through or between the lines of the speeches we heard from both the terrorism trial there. i thought it was a remarkable scene and to have this president associate himself so strongly with the goals and aspirations of the u.n. and and of the u.n. charter while while of course suggesting disappointment that the u.n. hasn't lived up to them but basically dedicating to the united states the united

states to serving the cause of reform and advancing the secretary general's goals i think that there is great synergy there it's often said that the united states and other countries want their secretary general to be more secretary and less in general but at least in terms of bringing the u.n. system to heel there is no question that that that the united states really wants and then you get terrorist to be empowered i think it's it's really a remarkable scene and i think that nikki haley deserves a lot of credit for working with the secretary general will bring this about i do agree with james vai's that there is a long road ahead here before we get real reform. not least because there obviously there were not large number of members that were not there this statement of reform that they signed up to i think that was very smart on the halley's part to sort of get them on record but but it's it at a very high level of generality and when it when it comes to efforts to to

try to rejigger budgets which are really in in control of the u.n. general assembly and the economic and social council they're not in the control of the u.n. security council. that the sledding is going to be a lot tougher when push comes to shove down the road but for now i think you had a really interesting. odd couple secretary general to terrorise and and donald trump aligning themselves and i think one would not have expected that several months ago. point i mean when it comes down to defining some of the terms which have been used either by god to his or trump when it comes. two for example with those talking about the they have a to serve the rights of people and the dignity of people who love being deprived of that to hear donald trump also talk about protecting whistleblowers was interesting how you defined that is going to be an interesting exercise of

diplomacy given all the controversy precisely it was some of those trump policies in the u.s. right now absolutely you know it's really you know he's basically talking about good governance within the u.n. system at the same time as some have has some questions about his dedication to that domestically the other issue which i think is is interesting is that nikki haley several times mentioned human rights you didn't you heard donald trump mention dignity you have nots he heard him talk about the importance of human rights in the world or really about american leadership so we'll see whether or not tomorrow those themes begin to emerge when he goes before the u.n. general assembly to give his much anticipated speech about where he sees the role of the united states in the world and what he expects from the united nations all right we'll have more to talk about tomorrow no doubt for now thanks so much to patrick the. thank you.

now syrian activists say the army in there has crossed the euphrates river serves as something of a demarcation line between government allied forces on the one hand and u.s. backed rebels on the other well this means troops could soon be face to face with rebel fighters correspondent who joins me live on set so this is a big deal isn't it it is in the sense that we see the syrian army on one hand of the s.d.f. try competing this is the syrian democratic forces largely kurdish group backed by the u.s. just to make it clear we're told it's an alliance of the kurdish forces backed by the u.s. which is in fact seen as a key ally in the fight against isis by the americans competing with the syrian army to try to take over territory that was under the control of. the syrian army has managed to break the siege of dealers all but there was a sentiment that both would respect the demarkation line which is the syrian state

west of the euphrates the s.d.f. will maintain a presence east of the of greatest changes that calculate can rightly change with the syrian army saying that not only it is determined to move forward but he says that any. if they are met with resistance they will use schools including the the only problem with this is basically this could put the americans on a collision course with the with the russians because the russia is the main backer of the syrian army while the americans say that this. has to as a as an ally in the fight against isis the potential for a regional tension is really high with both. the syrian army and the. trying to gain more territory in one particular area now india which is the one of the last remaining strongholds of ice in syria one imagines in a situation like this perhaps some high level called. between russia and the u.s.

to sort this one out any sign of that well in june for example when there was some similar tension in iraq the the americans shot down a syrian military plane which has been accused of pounding. positions near in one of the areas where the adamant would like to add to the areas it controls now this is definitely going to push both the americans and the. russians to try to deescalate in that particular area or at least to try to work out a modus operandi to but it's going to be extremely delicate because the earth is determined to set up its own councils the moment it controls territories it considers eastern syria to be part of its own territory the syrian army on the other hand considers the. rebel group and says that ultimately the ultimate power should be the of the

syrian army were getting very close to that point where we begin to see what happens after ice and got at least five questions for you on that but i think that i have to save them for another time for now thanks so much as. kurdish leaders in iraq say they'll go ahead with an independence vote next week despite a ruling by iraq's supreme court suspending the referendum campaigning has been well underway for the pole in the semi autonomous kurdish region to september the twenty fifth the referendum has been imposed by iraq turkey and iran though. it is in there to build the capital of the kurdish region in northern iraq. this announcement by the federal supreme court may have come as a surprise but at the same time i think it was not much of a surprise considering the considerable opposition to this referendum that's coming out of the central government in baghdad and indeed the parliament just last week voting against this referendum and asking prime minister did you do all what he can

to stop this referendum and indeed from what we understand of the ruling of the supreme court this is tension order rather came off the prime minister body sent a letter yesterday demanding that to happen in reality it is not a definite truly it is just a suspension of the federal court discipline. entire case from beginning to end i don't think that the result of that will be of any change actually when you hear people they don't expect that to change anytime soon we also heard the prime minister by the saying that if after the referendum there is need for military intervention then he will use that option even though he didn't really specify what would trigger didn't need for military intervention i think what you see now in baghdad is a lot of. a lot of meetings

a lot of pressure on the international community for it to put more pressure on the kurdish authorities to try to stop that referendum even though all we hear at the moment it is going ahead and actually shortly after the ruling of the supreme court this morning while the prime minister of the kurdish region issued a statement saying that there was no plan to suspend the vote at the moment. north korea says further sanctions will only speed up its nuclear and missile programs the statement follows the latest missile test by pyongyang on friday the foreign ministry has called the pursuit of more restrictions by the us style act china's foreign ministry has called on all sides not to complicate the crisis. we've the most pressing task for all parties in the international community is to strictly fully and accurately enforce the latest u.n. resolutions and not deliberately complicate the issue in fact everyone can see that

when it comes to development of the nuclear issues on the korean peninsula when various parities said threats through words or actions including military these have not promoted a resolution rather they have aggravated the tensions and are not beneficial to a final resolution on the peninsula nuclear issue. protesters in the bangladeshi capital of come out in support of rangar refugees. thousands of activists have staged a demonstration demanding rights for the minority group more than four hundred thousand have fled the recent violence and million miles western rakhine state. aid workers say they're running a crisis at the bangladesh main mar border is one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world. ports from sharp zero to southeast bangladesh. a month after renewed violence began in myanmar's rakhine state houses of rohingya

are making the journey to the border with bangladesh every day they're escaping ethnic cleansing by the myanmar military. we were six people in our family now there's just three of us left they killed my father one of the girls and my husband. this man is a volunteer with the regional cycling center. he's one of. the i guess. this is a disaster it's a manmade disaster what's happening in myanmar is inhumane and we are proud that bangladeshis are showing their humanity but the volunteers are being overwhelmed every time a food truck arrives. russian these are some of the clothes that refugees leaving behind the new ones by relief workers but residents here have been getting upset about this they say that the situation is out of control. aid workers say they are struggling to scale up operations quickly enough they want more help to take care

of health issues provide shelter and other basic needs i think international donors have to step up to the plate and that is not just the traditional donors of the united states europe japan but also nontraditional donors in particular countries in the middle east and countries in the region in southeast asia particularly those on the ground say this is now a global crisis and needs a sustained global response until that happens these refugees will have to make do with what little comes their way myers al-jazeera bangladesh. the wife of pakistan's former prime minister nawaz sharif has clenched his parliamentary seat. the seat became vacant when the supreme court removed her husband from office because of corruption allegations. al jazeera says snap chats decision to block its content in saudi arabia is

a direct attack on freedom of expression the social media platform says it was asked by saudi authorities to remove the carter funded channel because it violated local laws saudi arabia has about eight million snap chat uses one of the largest in the world al-jazeera also says the blocking sends a message that regimes and countries can silence any voice they don't agree with by exerting pressure on social media platforms carter has been embroiled in a diplomatic dispute with saudi arabia and three other arab states since early june when they cut ties with. a u.k. based human rights organization is calling on egypt to provide necessary treatment for detained al-jazeera journalist mahmud hussein he's been imprisoned for almost nine months accused of broadcasting false news to spread chaos something he and al jazeera strongly deny the need to be transferred for specialized treatment on these broken arm the man credited with saving the world from nuclear disaster has

died stanislav was the officer in charge of the soviet union's early warning system when it sounded the alarm in one nine hundred eighty three he was ordered to immediately retaliate to a u.s. missile attack with nuclear weapons luckily held back correctly blaming a computer error for the false alarm he died four months ago news of his death only just emerged though. weather forecasters have issued storm alerts for croatia serbia and roumania and western romania one hundred kilometer winds contributed to the killing of eight people and dozens of injuries homes schools and hospitals with damage power cuts affected several towns and villages. and let's take you through some of the headlines here now the u.s. president donald trump has warned that bureaucracy and mismanagement are preventing

the united nations from fulfilling its potential he's hosted a meeting on u.n. reform a day before the annual gathering of world leaders at the united nations general assembly trump has been a frequent critic of the u.n. . in recent years the united nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement while the united nations on a regular budget has increased by one hundred forty percent and its staff has more than doubled since two thousand we are not seeing the results in line with this investment but i know that under the secretary general that's changing and it's changing fast and we've seen it. syrian activists say the army and cross the euphrates syrian activists say the army has crossed the river which served as a demarcation line between government allied forces and u.s. backed rebels that means troops could soon be face to face with rebel fighters

kurdish leaders in iraq say they'll go ahead with an independence vote next week despite a ruling by iran's supreme court suspending the referendum the campaigning has been well on the way for the pole in the semi autonomous kurdish region it's slated to be held on september the twenty fifth the referendum has been fiercely opposed by a number of international countries including iraq turkey and iran north korea says further sanctions will only speed up its nuclear and missile programs the statement follows the latest missile test by pyongyang on friday the foreign ministry is calling the pursuit of more restrictions by the u.s. a hostile act. the commander in chief. blaming the right angle for violence which the refugee crisis. says his forces are only targeting on

groups for the u.n. says the military's ethnically cleansing most of the right to civilians it's talk to al-jazeera next stay with us on counting the cost how apple's i phone economics make it the most profitable company in the world. how the jay trade is influencing the prices in myanmar. plus one hundred days of the gulf crisis we'll look at how the economy is very. counting the cost at this time on i just did. you. mean you. jewels international airport generally two thousand and seventy stepping out of the black limousine is going to be as long time president. as he walks down the torment on the presidential red carpet for the last time.