UN agrees further package of administrative reforms

The United Nations General Assembly has approved proposals by the Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to further streamline the world body's administration.

A new position of deputy Secretary General is to be created and the main candidate is expected to be the Canadian Deputy Defence Minister Louise Frechette.

But the General Assembly deferred a final decision on a number of other reforms, including channeling savings from administrative reforms into a special account for development projects.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service