New Zealand to keep up pressure for UN reform

New Zealand will make a final push for United Nations reform in New York in the final days of the country's two-year stint on the Security Council, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said on Monday.

McCully said he would make his final visit to New York this week for UN Security Council meetings, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This visit is about ensuring that New Zealand is well positioned to continue pushing for top-level UN reform and other issues that matter to small states as we transition off the Security Council," McCully said.

"While New Zealand's tenure on the council is drawing to a close, many of the issues we have championed during our term will continue to be a focus for our foreign policy effort in the coming years.

"We are focused on working right up to the last day and while in New York I will participate in the quarterly open debate on the Middle East, which will include a briefing from outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and a ministerial-level debate on non-proliferation hosted by the new foreign minister of Spain."

McCully will also meet incoming UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of UN peacekeeping operations Herve Ladsous.

--IANS

py/