United Nations:  UNchief Ban Ki-moon has requested US President George W Bush and theCongressional leaders to lift their spending cap on contributions to the UnitedNations peacekeeping operations.

Talking to reporters after returning from a two-day visit to Washingtonwhere he met Bush, Ban noted that the Congress has imposed a cap so that the US,the largest financial contributor to the UN pays no more than 25 per cent ofexpenses for peacekeeping operations.

Ban said if the USlimit remains then work of individual operations may be hampered.

According to a scale of assessments agreed upon by UN member states in 2000,the USis required to pay about 27 per cent of the budget.

Ban said the gap of two percentage points would result in annual shortfall of150 million to 200 million dollars, which, if accumulated, create verydifficult constraints in carrying out peacekeeping operations smoothly.

The Secretary-General said Bush and the Congressional leaders assured himduring their meetings over the past two days that they would discuss the issue.

Ban's meeting with President Bush was first since he assumed office on Januaryone, and they discussed a range of problems and issues, including the situationin Darfur, the Middle East, non-proliferation,UN reform, climate change and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's).

The UN chief said Bush wanted to see increased participation of UN in Iraq,but he told Bush that ongoing security concerns meant the size and role of theUN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) was constrained.

He also met House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.