Europe

Europe

Italy calls for consensus on UN reform

08 December 2011 21:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Italy on Thursday called on UN member states to work for a consensus on the reform of the world body, the UN Security Council in particular, rather than taking a "confrontational approach" to the most important and complicated issue, APA reports.

Cesare Ragaglini, the Italian UN ambassador, made the call when briefing a small group of the UN-based correspondents on the reform of the United Nations.

Italy is seeking a broad consensus on the basis of compromise on the UN reform, including what the Italian ambassador called the enlargement of the Security Council, among 193 UN member states. The Italian ambassador was also making the comments in response to a Nov.14 meeting in Tokyo on the UN reform.

"We encourage the decision of Japan to open a new chapter in the Security Council reform process," the Italian ambassador said, adding the Tokyo meeting was a signal that Italy appreciated.

"We hope that other countries will follow Japan in starting a dialogue and searching for a compromise... We look forward to working in the (UN) General Assembly with other like-minded member states to advance a consensual rather than confrontational approach."

It is widely held that the world body, including its Security Council, needs to be reformed, but there is a big gap among 193 member states on how to proceed with the reform drive.

On May 16, Italy hosted a one-day meeting of 123 countries in Rome in a major diplomatic campaign to head off the drive by Japan, India, Germany and Brazil to get a permanent seat on an expanded Security Council, the most powerful UN body.

Currently, the Security Council groups five permanent members - - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, and 10 non- permanent members, elected by the General Assembly to serve on two- year terms.

The UN reform is necessary because "we believe that the Security Council must be more flexible in order to adapt itself to the new situation in the world," he said, noting efforts should be made to enable the Security Council to be "more democratic, representative and efficient."