New York, May 13 -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for wide-ranging structural reforms to enhance the global body's effectiveness. He outlined wide-ranging reform plans to revamp how the UN system operates, including cutting costs, relocating services from high-cost duty stations, centralizing information technology and support services, expanding automation and digital platforms, noting that some of these changes will be "painful" for the UN family.

In the briefing on the UN80 Initiative in New York on Monday, Guterres said, "As indicated in my letter of 11 March, the UN80 Initiative is structured around three key workstreams: First, we are striving to rapidly identify efficiencies and improvements un...