G4 nations welcome Summit of the Future, say comprehensive UNSC reform essential to make UN better reflect geopolitical realities

New York, Sep 26 (PTI) The G4 nations of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan have welcomed the UN’s landmark Summit of the Future where world leaders strongly called for urgent reform of the Security Council, saying such comprehensive reform is essential to make the United Nations better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities.

The Foreign Ministers of the "Group of Four” countries, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira, Foreign Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoko Kamikawa met on the margins of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to assess the state of play and discuss prospects for a reform of the United Nations Security Council.

The G4 Ministerial Joint Press Statement, issued after the meeting, said that the foreign ministers welcomed the ‘Summit of the Future’, held at the UN headquarters on September 22 and 23, “where world leaders strongly called for urgent reform of the Security Council.” “They stressed the importance of transforming global governance and emphasised that discussions on reform of the UN Security Council remain a top priority following the ‘Summit of the Future’,” the statement said.

At the Summit of the Future, world leaders on Sunday adopted by consensus the Pact of the Future in which they promise to “reform the Security Council, recognizing the urgent need to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable.” UN officials have described the language in the Pact of the Future on the long-pending Security Council reforms as “groundbreaking”.

The G4 Ministers noted the current significant challenges to the multilateral system with the United Nations at its core. “They stressed that a comprehensive reform of the Security Council is an essential part of any endeavour to make the United Nations better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities and thus fit for the present and future,” it said.

Germany, India and Japan also welcomed Brazil’s initiative of launching a Call to Action on Global Governance Reform in the context of the Brazilian Presidency of the G20.

As the UN turns 80 next year, the G4 Ministers underscored the urgency of the reform of the Security Council, as well as their strong dedication to this goal.

“They urged the international community to engage wholeheartedly in these efforts during the 79th UN General Assembly and agreed to further reach out to, and work in good faith with, the wider UN membership to advance the issue. They concurred on continuing to discuss current UN-related issues, including those in the Security Council.” The G4 Ministers reiterated their call for expansion of the 15-nation Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, which has been supported by a significant number of Member States throughout the negotiation process, in order to increase the Council’s legitimacy and ensure its effectiveness.

“They agreed on the need to enhance the role and participation of developing countries, and those significantly contributing to international peace and security, in the Security Council, in both membership categories,” the statement said.

In this vein, they also stressed the importance of an improved representation of under-represented and unrepresented groups and regions, such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, in both membership categories. Ministers reaffirmed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

In the Pact of the Future, world leaders agree to redress the historical injustice against Africa as a priority and, while treating Africa as a special case, improve the representation of the underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.

They also agree to “enlarge" the Security Council in order to be more representative of the current United Nations membership and reflective of the realities of the contemporary world.

Reviewing the work of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly, the G4 Ministers voiced strong concern over the “persistent absence of substantial progress” in the Inter-Governmental negotiations and underlined the urgent need to begin text-based negotiations.

They however welcomed the recent increase in support of text-based negotiations and looked forward to engaging in further model discussions, including a collective effort to develop a consolidated model. PTI YAS AMS