United Nations, New York, USA, 03 April 2017 – Nikki Haley, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for April, briefs journalists on the Councils program of work for the month today at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
United Nations, April 03 2017
As the United States takes over the presidency of the Security Council, Ambassador, Nikki Haley, told reporters today that the US administration is looking at the UN with “fresh eyes.”
Haley said the administration is “looking at it to see, where can I show value, where do we see that it’s just not working, what do we want our involvement to be, and the goal right now is that I hope you will see leadership from the United States.”
The US Ambassador said “I had numerous conversations with the Secretary-General about the need for peacekeeping reform and the members of the Security Council have very much talked about how they want to see peacekeeping reform” and stressed that “we need to move forward and the goal is to be effective and efficient through the process, and to make sure that we are helping the people on the ground.”
Turning to Syria, Haley said “we have no love” for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
She went on to say “he has been a hindrance to peace for a long time. I think he is a war criminal. What he has done to his people is nothing more than disgusting.”
Continuing on Syria, the Ambassador said “we also have obviously the extremism, ISIS, and trying to counter that. We see Iranian influence that is not helpful, we’d like to see that get out of Syria, and so I think we’ll continue to see the US very vocal and very strong as it relates to Syria, because we do want to see peace in that region, and we do want to try to be part of the solution.”
Speaking on the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping, Haley said “the goal of this weekend is to make sure that China shows that they are willing to act on North Korea, because we know at the end of the day, the only one that North Korea is really going to respond to is China.”
On the Middle East stalled peace process, she said “I do think the discussions that have happened at the UN have been more of a hindrance towards the peace process than it’s been a help, because it’s caused defensiveness to happen and that’s never healthy for anything. So, our willingness, support, and enthusiasm of seeing an agreement coming from the Palestinian Authority and the Israelis is very important.”
On the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and the positions expressed by the new administration, Haley said “we don’t want to do anything that is going to hurt our businesses. We think that you can walk a fine balance between making sure that you are protecting the environment and also making sure that you are creating a strong economy that allows businesses to function.”
The United States will hold the Presidency of the Security Council for the month of April.
Source: UNTV Photo: EuropaNewswire