A proposal of expanding the United Nations Security Council membership, tabled G4 nations — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, has received “solid support” from countries across regions, India's envoy to the world body, Hardeep Singh Puri, has said.
The G4's “short resolution” has got encouraging support in the form of 85 signatures, 53 other expressions of support and another 14-15 in the pipeline.
At the beginning of a plenary session, the G4 had called for an expansion of the permanent and non-permanent categories of the Council membership and improvement in its working methods, reflecting the geopolitical realities of the 21st century.
“The interesting part is we got solid support for expansion in both categories cutting across regions,” Mr. Puri told reporters at the conclusion of the first day of the eighth-round of inter-governmental negotiations on UNSC reforms that began here on Thursday.
There was “very strong support” from countries in Europe such as Portugal, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia and some Caribbean and Pacific nations.
“It has been an excellent start and we will need to build on it to give it a critical definition in the months ahead,” he said.
Rubbishing reports of China's opposition to the resolution, he said, “I had a look at the Chinese statement. They said they are in favour of necessary and reasonable reform of the Security Council.”
Pakistan's stand
Pakistan, however, is opposed to the G4 proposal and described it as a “zero-sum” that was likely to benefit only the G-4 nations.
Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.N., said the resolution was nothing but a short-cut “whose fate too is obvious.”
Pakistan said the “short resolution” has neither garnered meaningful support nor allowed progress in the reform process.
“Lacking space for compromise, the G-4 proposal is zero-sum in nature, with 4 winners and 184 losers. Therefore, it has neither garnered meaningful support nor allowed progress in the reform process. These important issues cannot be side-stepped,” he said.
Mr. Haroon said despite nearly a year-long intense campaign, the G-4 was not able to muster significant support for its draft resolution.
