UN Chief Believes US President-Elect to Participate in UN Activities Fully

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed confidence that US President-elect Donald Trump would be "fully engaged" in the activities of the United Nations after the politician would come into office.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ban made the the remarks in a Tuesday interview with CNN broadcaster, which was dedicated to the forthcoming end of UN Chief's tenure.

"The United States is one of the most important founding members of the United Nations. Therefore, the United States' leadership [and] working together with the United Nations is crucially important. I am confident that [US] President-elect Donald Trump will be fully engaged with the United Nations."

The UN official added that he had already held a phone talks with Trump soon after his victory and discussed a number of major issues.

On November 8, Trump managed to come ahead of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential elections, securing at least 290 electoral votes despite most of the analysts and opinion polls predicting his defeat. Trump's inauguration will be held on January 20, 2017.

Ban is due to step down by the start of 2017 after almost a decade in office. He will be succeeded by Portuguese diplomat Antonio Guterres.