UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled a radical management overhaul report Tuesday, which proposes outsourcing or relocating some UN work to low-cost nations and dismissing unwanted employees at a cost of some 100, 000 U.S. dollars per person.

"The earlier reforms addressed the symptoms, more than the causes, of our shortcomings. It is now time to reach for deeper, more fundamental change," said Annan while presenting the 33-page much-awaited report to the General Assembly.

"What is needed, and what we now have a precious opportunity to undertake, is a radical overhaul of the entire Secretariat -- its rules, its structure, its systems -- to bring it more in line with today's realities, and enable it to perform the new kinds of operations that the member states now ask and expect of it," he stressed.

The report, entitled "Investing in the United Nations: For a Stronger Organization Worldwide," also proposes updating the world body's information system, investing millions of dollars more in staff training and regrouping its 25 departments and entities.

The blueprint was called for by last September's world summit in New York, as part of a broader ambitious plan to revitalize the 60-year-old organization and make it more responsive to challenges of the 21st century.

Annan's proposals encompass a revamped version of how to recruit, contract, train, assign and compensate staff, with an emphasis on bringing conditions for field-based personnel, such as peacekeepers, up to par with those at other UN agencies operating in the field.

The report proposes the formal delegation of responsibility for management policies and overall operational matters to a redefined post of deputy secretary-general to help free the secretary- general to focus on political and policy issues.

It also proposes significant investment to overhaul the Organization's information and communications infrastructure by replacing current antiquated, fragmented technology systems with an integrated global platform.

The report recommends that some UN services, including translation and printing, be relocated from the New York headquarters to lower cost countries or outsourced.

About 4,5000 people work at the UN headquarters in New York, where its main bodies -- the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat and the Economic and Social Council are located.

According to the report, an additional 10 million dollars would be spent on staff training annually and another 280 million dollars would be needed to improving benefits of peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel.

Meanwhile, reforming the procurement process would save the UN 100 million to 400 million dollars and outsourcing and relocating some UN functions would produce 35 million dollars in savings.

The 191-nation General Assembly has not yet set a date to debate Annan's recommendations.

Source: Xinhua