U.N. To Cut Red Tape, Give Savings To Poor

In an effort to end the United Nations’ financial troubles by persuading Congress to pay the United States’ overdue dues, Secretary General Kofi Annan is working on a plan to streamline the organization by eliminating some $200 million a year of administrative spending and shifting the money to development aid for poor countries.

The new secretary general hopes to secure these savings in the administrative budget by eliminating 500 jobs from a work force that has already shrunk from 12,000 to 9,000 since 1985, by ending duplication and by reducing red tape.

The moves would slash administrative spending nearly in half, and reduce administrative costs from 38 percent of the United Nations’ $1.3 billion budget to 20 percent.