United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will continue to work with the Trump administration despite differences, a spokesman said Thursday after Washington announced it was pulling out of UNESCO.

Guterres “deeply regrets” the decision but “at the same time of course we interact with the United States very productively on a range of issues through a range of organizations and will continue to do that,” said spokesman Farhan Haq.

The government of US President Donald Trump announced it was quitting UNESCO, accusing the UN cultural and education body of “anti-Israel” bias after it designated in July the old city of Hebron as a Palestinian heritage site.

The UN spokesman appeared to downplay the US decision to leave UNESCO.

“There are times when there may be differences on this or that issue, but the secretary-general, as you have seen, works well with the government of the US,” said Haq.

Guterres, who succeeded Ban Ki-moon in January, has worked hard behind the scenes to establish good relations with the US administration despite US funding cuts and disparaging comments from Trump about the world body.

See at: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2017/10/un-chief-will-work-us-despite-unesco-pullout/