United Nations, Sep 23 External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the foreign ministers of Brazil, Germany and Japan, whose countries make up the G4, met virtually on Wednesday and called for a "decisive push" for UN Security Council reforms.
Foreign Ministers Ernesto Henrique Fraga Araujo of Brazil, Heiko Mass of Germany and Toshimitsu Motegi joined Jaishankar in keeping the annual tradition of meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's high-level session, which has gone digital this year.
Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting, "Participated in #G4 Foreign Ministers Meeting that called for a decisive push for UNSC reforms during #UN75. Unanimous call for text-based negotiations in a fixed time frame. Reformed Multilateralism guides India's approach to the United Nations."
The reform process has been blocked by a small group of countries, Uniting for Consensus, led by Italy and including Pakistan that use procedural tactics to prevent the adoption of a negotiating text that can move the negotiations forward.
The negotiating text that lays down the agenda and the points of agreement and the differences is needed to continue the negotiations meaningfully.
The G4 countries work together for Security Council reforms and mutually support each other for a permanent seat on a reformed body.
At their meeting, the ministers take stock of the state of the reform process and coordinate their strategies.
The reform has received a lot of support from heads of government and state who spoke on the first day of the high-level session on Monday.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the Council must be reformed "to reflect the diversity and dynamics of the 21st Century. Africa deserves permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council."
The view was echoed by several others like Presidents Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco of Angola and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "We must rapidly implement comprehensive and meaningful reforms, starting with the restructuring of the Security Council."
General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir, who will oversee the reform process ruing the Assembly's current session, had said earlier, "There is no doubt that the membership of the Security Council as well as its working methods must reflect the realities of the 21st century."
"Security Council reform is very important, not only for the member states but also to the United Nations as a whole," he said, giving an assurance that he will promote the Security Council reform process impartially.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)
( With inputs from IANS )
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