G4 leaders seek early UNSC reform

The leaders of the G-4 countries in a meeting held during the ongoing 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) emphasised on the need for early reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism.

Briefing the media on the G-4 meeting, Joint Secretary for UN Political in the Ministry of External Affairs, Dinesh Patnaik, said that the Ministers felt the need for an early reform of UNSC and expansion of permanent and non-permanent membership to enhance legitimacy, effectiveness, and representatives of the council.

The leaders also reviewed the progress of inter-governmental negotiations (IGN) and emphasised the need to revitalise the process.

"It has been 10 years since the IGN started and they felt that it was about time they went to the next step of text-based negotiations. They said that they should work together with other member states to realise the shared vision of the overwhelming majority supporting the initiation of text-based negotiations in a democratic and transparent manner," he added.

Patnaik said the leaders also felt the necessity to intensify dialogue with other member countries, especially the African group, and agreed to express support for reflecting the African common position as contained in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration in all text-based negotiations. The ministers further reiterated their support for Africa's representation in both the permanent and the non-permanent membership of a reformed and expanded security council, he said.

Meanwhile, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that so far, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has held 13 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA.

"Highlight has been a series of bilateral meetings which EAM had with her counterparts. In the first two days, she had a total of 13 bilateral meetings. She also attended the high-level meeting chaired by (United States) President (Donald) Trump on 'Global call to action on world drug problem' " he told media here.

Swaraj is slated to attend a meeting of women foreign ministers, a high-level meeting on climate change and a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on Palestine today (September 26).

A total of 30 bilateral meetings are scheduled to be held by Swaraj during her visit.