Doug Armand/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump made his debut at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, calling for reforms to the decades-old intergovernmental organization that promotes international cooperation.

“The United Nations was founded on truly noble goals,” Trump said upon joining U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the U.N.’s senior leadership and leaders of more than 120 other nations at a forum focused on U.N. reform.

“Yet in recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement,” Trump said at the forum titled, “Reforming the United Nations: Management, Security, and Development.”

Trump said increases in the U.N.’s budget and staffing haven’t yielded results.

He commended U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres for, as the U.S. president put it, calling to “focus more on people and less on bureaucracy.”

“We seek a United Nations that regains the trust of the people around the world,” Trump said. “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.”

“We must ensure that no one, and no member state, shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden, and that’s militarily or financially,” he said.

The president also referenced one of his private properties, Trump World Tower, saying he purposely built it adjacent to the U.N. headquarters in New York City.

“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 was here that that turned out to be such a successful project,” Trump joked.

Trump will make his first full remarks to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

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