United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has met with US President Barack Obama during his visit to Washington. A former senior UN official told CRI reporter that the Obama administration has a clear agenda of improving its relations with the United Nations. Our Washington correspondent ShanShan has the story.

Reporter:

It's the first meeting between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and US president Barack Obama since Obama took office in January.

Gillian Sorensen, an American, is the former assistant Secretary General for External Relations and now serves as senior advisor for the New-York based United Nations Foundation.

She says she's glad to see the meeting between UN Secretary-General and the US president, which is a sign of respect for the secretary general and for the UN.

Gillian Sorensen says the Obama administration has sent positive signals to enhancing its relations with the UN, which makes her confident that the US and UN will enter a new era of engagement.

"The good news is that today change is here and the era of engagement is at hand. I was very glad to hear President Obama say the payment of the dues would be one of the early things that he would attend to."

Former assistant Secretary-General Gillian Sorensen says she's encouraged by the promising start. She hopes more measures will come this way to strengthen the role of the US in the UN.

"The first is to pay our dues in full and on time. Secondly, we will sign and ratify a number of international treaties. Third, we have already sent a very fine ambassador to the UN. And we'll do more and better on development issues. The next is to pay our peacekeeping contributions."

Sorensen says the collaboration between US and UN is particularly essential this year to address the crises on many fronts, including the global economic crisis and the need to assist the world's poorest and most vulnerable. She says there's huge potential for the US to contribute to the international community and lead again.

SS, CRI news, Washington.