The United States has a “legal obligation” to continue paying its dues that fund United Nations agencies, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday, a day after Washington DC announced that the country would withdraw from several of the organisation’s bodies.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the withdrawal of the US from 66 international organisations that the White House said “no longer serve American interests”. Of these, 31 are UN-linked bodies, while 35 are non-United Nations organisations.

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The UN organisations from which the United States has withdrawn include the UN Population Fund, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the International Law Commission, the International Trade Centre and the Peacebuilding Commission.

On Thursday, Guterres’ spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN chief “regrets the announcement by the White House regarding the United States’ decision to withdraw from a number of United Nations entities”.

Dujarric told reporters that there has been no formal communication from the Trump administration outlining details of the decision, the Associated Press reported.

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Guterres was quoted by the spokesperson as saying that “assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget” are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all member states, including the United States.

Despite the White House’s announcement, the affected UN entities would continue their work, Guterres said.

The Trump administration has previously suspended support for multilateral bodies such as the World Health Organization, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency – the UN Human Rights Council, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.