G-4 members underline urgency of reforming UN Security Council
India along with other members of the G-4 grouping — Brazil, Japan and Germany — who are aiming for permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday decided to press their claims by “determinedly work without any further delay towards launching textbased negotiations in the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), on the basis of a single document, with a view to its adoption in the UNGA”.
The IGN is a larger body of nations committed to UNSC reform. At a meeting in New York, external affairs minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar and his other three counterparts “instructed their delegations to the United Nations to support the efforts of the President of the 76th General Assembly and the Chair(s) of the IGN, and to identify ways to develop a single consolidated text as a basis for a draft resolution”.
In a statement, the MEA said, “On 22 September 2021 (Thursday IST) the foreign ministers of the G4 countries — Carlos Alberto Franco França, foreign minister of Brazil, Heiko Maas, federal foreign minister of Germany, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, minister for external affairs of India and Motegi Toshimitsu, minister for foreign affairs of Japan, met during the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
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.”
Meanwhile, Mr Jaishankar addressed the G-20 grouping’s foreign ministers’ meeting in New York on the situation in Afghanistan in the early hours of Thursday in which he made it clear that the “Taliban’s commitment not to allow use of Afghan soil for terrorism in any manner should be implemented” and that “the world expects a broad based inclusive process that involves representation from all sections of Afghan society”.