UNITED NATIONS, June 18: Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday that the passing of a bill in the United States House of Representatives that calls for withholding of US dues to the UN budget, was not ‘a productive route’ to achieving UN reform.

A spokesman for Mr Annan said in a statement that the secretary general was undertaking a number of management reform and had laid out a broader agenda of institutional reform and renewal that is being actively discussed by member sStates in the run-up to a ‘reform summit’ of heads of government in September.

“The secretary general is deeply committed to UN reform,” the spokesman said, adding: “He believes that US engagement and leadership in this process is very important, but does not feel that withholding dues is a productive route to achieving reform and indeed that it could jeopardize the outcome of the September summit.”