India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday, 23 September, met the foreign minister of G4 countries – Brazil, Germany, and Japan, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The urgency of reforming the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in order to make it more “legitimate, effective and representative” was underlined, news agency ANI reported.
EAM Jaishankar posted a photo with the ministers and said in a tweet, "With G4 Foreign Ministers (@heikomaas, @moteging, Carlos França), sent a clear message on the need for reformed multilateralism. Called for concrete outcomes in a fixed timeframe."
A joint statement was issued by EAM S Jaishankar, Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Franco Ranca, Germany’s Heiko Maas, and Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi, reaffirming that it is indispensable to reform the Security Council through an expansion of both categories, permanent and non-permanent seats, to enable the Security Council to better deal with the ever complex and evolving challenges to the maintenance of international peace and security, and their right to carry out its duties more effectively, news agency ANI reported.
The statement noted, “The Ministers underlined the urgency of reforming the Security Council in order to make it more legitimate, effective, and representative by reflecting the reality of the contemporary world including developing countries and major contributors.”
Keeping this in mind, strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, was expressed by the ministers.
The ministers also expressed determination to work towards launching text-based negotiations without further delay in the Intergovernmental Negotiation framework (IGN), on the basis of a single document, with a view to its adoption in the General Assembly.
The statement further added, “The Minister instructed, to this end, their delegations to the United Nations to support the effort of the Presient of the 76th General Assembly and the Chair(s) of the IGN and to identify way to develop a single consolidated text as a basis for a draft resolution.”
(With inputs from ANI)
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