The G4 countries – Brazil, India, Japan and Germany – on Wednesday expressed disappointment at attempts to derail the United Nations reforms and called for text-based negotiations within a fixed deadline to renew the world body.
The foreign ministers of the four countries, during a virtual meeting during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, highlighted the urgency of reforming the world body and updating its main decision-making bodies to better reflect contemporary realities.
The move is in line with India’s position on UN reforms, including expanding the permanent and non-permanent membership of the Security Council, its main decision-making body.
The Foreign Ministers: Ernesto Araújo of Brazil, S Jaishankar of India, Motegi Toshimitsu of Japan and the Minister of State of Germany in the federal office of Foreign Affairs, Niels Annen, who represented the Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, said that the declaration adopted by all heads of state and government on the 75th anniversary of the UN reaffirmed the “common determination to finally take decisive steps towards early and comprehensive reform of the Security Council.”
Jaishankar tweeted that G4 ministers had “called for decisive push for UNSC reforms during # UN75.” He said there was a “unanimous call for time-bound text-based negotiations” and India’s approach to the UN is guided by reformed multilateralism.
In a joint statement, the G4 ministers noted that the statement said that “the world today is very different from what it was when the United Nations was created 75 years ago. There are more countries, more people, more challenges, but also more solutions. Our working methods must keep pace and adapt. ”
“In keeping with this call, the G4 Ministers highlighted the urgency of reforming the United Nations and updating its main decision-making bodies, in order to better reflect contemporary realities,” the joint statement said.
The ministers also “expressed disappointment at attempts to derail this process and pledged to address the issue in a meaningful way and with greater urgency on this 75th anniversary of the UN.”
They also said that the expansion of the Security Council in both categories “will be essential for this body to be more representative, legitimate and effective, thus enhancing its ability to face the complex challenges facing the world today in matters of international peace and security.”
The ministers insisted that only the reform of the Security Council will prevent the body from “becoming obsolete.”
A broader composition of the Security Council, “with an increasing representation of countries with the capacity and the will to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security, including Africa, will allow it to preserve its credibility and create the necessary political support. for the peaceful resolution of today’s international crises, ”the joint statement said.
The G4 countries have supported each other’s candidacy for permanent membership in an expanded Security Council. With the exception of China, all the other P5 countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia) have also offered unconditional support to India’s membership in the Security Council.
The G4 ministers also expressed concern about the lack of “any significant progress in the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform and expressed concern that, after two sessions in February and March, the IGN was suspended due to Covid-19 and no further meetings were held ”.
They said these negotiations lack the “necessary openness and transparency” and are limited by faulty working methods. They further said that they were convinced that “the time has come to leave behind discussions based solely on general statements, without conducting substantive text-based negotiations in an intergovernmental framework.”
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