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India says ’time has come’ for UN reforms

07 June 2011 19:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna urged on Tuesday long-awaited reforms to the 15-member UN Security Council, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

India is a member of the so-called Group of Four regional powers hoping to expand the UN Security Council to 25 members and get permanent seats on the council.

"An overwhelming majority of UN member-states have repeatedly expressed themselves in favor of expansion of the Security Council in both its permanent and non-permanent categories and an improvement in its working methods," Krishna said at a meeting of Asia-Europe forum’s foreign ministers in Hungary.

"The time for this reform has not only come, it is imperative that we brook no delay, as that will only be at the expense of the United Nations, which is not in the interest of any of us, individually or collectively," he said.

The Security Council currently consists of five permanent, veto-holding members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. It also includes 10 non-permanent members, which represent all regions of the world and are elected for two-year terms.

The 192-member United Nations has been talking about expanding the council to reflect the world in the 21st century for the past two decades, but every proposal has been rejected, primarily because of rivalries between countries and regions more concerned about their own self-interests than the improved functioning of the U.N.

Krishna reiterated on Tuesday that the structure of the Security Council continues to reflect post World War II realities and "does not allow it to harness the benefits from the shifts in the global power balance in the past 65 years."

The Group of Four, which also includes Japan, Germany and Brazil, expressed optimism in February that "a concrete outcome" could be achieved during the current session of the UN General Assembly which ends in early September.