Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said UNSC reforms 'inevitable'

United Nations (PTI) - Pitching for "urgent"
reforms of the United Nations Security Council, India on
Friday said that the long pending expansion of the top organ
of the world body is "inevitable".
"The reform of the Security Council is inevitable,"
Krishna told PTI after his meeting with the L69 group, a
diverse set of countries from Africa, Latin America and the
Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.
"It is urgent and it will have to be supported
wholeheartedly and I think as a group we should carry this
movement forward," he said.
Krishna, who is here on his first trip to the UN since
India became a non-permanent member on the Security Council
last month after a gap of 19 years, said that Security Council
reform is on the top of his agenda.
The L69 Group supports India's position that the
Council's permanent and non-permanent categories should both
be expanded, which was reiterated today by UN envoys of the
countries in the group.
"There was unanimity on views in L69 group on
reforms," Krishna said.
This position, however, is not reflected as the
conclusive position in the latest five page document, which is
a product of ongoing text based negotiations that is being
chaired Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan's envoy to the UN.
The Security Council reform process has been going on
for almost two decades.
But several questions are yet to be resolved, which
include how many new seats should be created, who gets these
seats and when should the veto power kick in.
Krishna would meet foreign ministers of three other
Security Council aspirants – Brazil, Japan and Germany later
today. Following the meeting, the G4 countries are expected
to produce an outcome document on their discussions.
Except Japan, the three other G4 countries are
currently on the Council serving as non-permanent members and
they are hoping to set the stage for becoming permanent
members before their terms expire.
The four ministers will also meet General Assembly
President Joseph Deiss to discuss Security Council reform.
Deiss has spoken out strongly in favor of reform.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota also
attended the L69 gathering and later met Krishna for a
bilateral meeting.