Ban vows close ties to business sector, Washington

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (Reuters) UN chief Ban Ki-moon has pledged to work closely with the business world, saying the United Nations and the corporate sector shared many goals and depended on one another for their success.

Ban, in his first speech outside UN headquarters since becoming secretary-general on January 1, also said he would do all he could to ensure good ties with the United States and planned to visit President George W Bush in Washington next week.

''I as secretary-general will make my best effort to have a very harmonious relationship and to ensure very active and strong participation of the United States,'' he told New York business leaders.

''Without strong United States participation, it may be very difficult for the United Nations to perform its functions,'' Ban said. ''I am quite confident that we will see very cooperative and active participation of the United States in all aspects of the United Nations.'' Washington is the world body's biggest dues payer, picking up the tab for 22 per cent of its regular budget. But UN-US ties have been strained in recent years.

Ban won the UN leadership post with vigorous backing from the United States.

But so did his predecessor, Kofi Annan, who later clashed with the Bush administration over charges of UN mismanagement and the US-led invasion of Iraq, which he called illegal without Security Council backing.

Ban told the business leaders that the United Nations shared with them the goals of ''building strong economies and communities, providing opportunities for people to pursue a livelihood and ensuring that everyone can live in dignity.'' ''We need your innovation, your initiative and your technological prowess. But business also needs the United Nations,'' he said. ''In a very real sense, the business of the United Nations can be viewed as seeking to create the ideal enabling environment within which business can thrive.'' ''Most important of all, the United Nations advocates values that are the cornerstone of an interdependent world -- freedom, justice and a peaceful resolution of disputes, better standards of living, equality and tolerance and human rights,'' he said.

''Globalization can work only if these values are paramount.'' Reuters DKS VP0440