M A I N   N E W S

India, G4 partners push for UNSC expansion

United Nations, February 12
India along with Brazil, Germany and Japan - the other G4 countries - has called for expanding the permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council in the current General Assembly session.

The group offered to share its nation-building experience with the global community. “There is widespread support for a member-states driven initiative to take the process of the much-needed reform of the Security Council towards a concrete outcome in the current session of the UN General Assembly,” the four nations, dubbed the G4, said in a joint statement after a meeting of their foreign ministers here.

The meeting was attended by India’s External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, Brazil’s Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Germany's Guido Westerwelle and Japan's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Takeaki Matsumoto.

It was the second meeting of G4 ministers in six months to discuss UN reforms. “The ministers, therefore, agreed to press ahead, with all necessary steps to achieve at the earliest an expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent membership categories of the Security Council,” the statement said.

“Towards this goal, the G4 countries reaffirmed their readiness to reach out to other countries and to work in close cooperation with them in a spirit of flexibility,” it said.

“No country has contributed as many peacekeepers to as many peacekeeping operations as India,” External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said Friday, speaking at the UN Security Council for the first time since India became a non-permanent member of the top UN decision-making body. He added: “Global power and the capacities to address problems are much more dispersed than they were six decades ago. The current framework must address these realities.” — IANS