NEW YORK, Sept 26: India, Japan, Germany and Brazil today declared themselves as “legitimate” candidates for permanent membership of the UNSC as they pushed for its reform in a “fixed timeframe”, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the task should be accomplished immediately.
Hosting a Summit of leaders of Germany, Japan and Brazil under the G-4 format here, he said the UN Security Council “must include the world’s largest democracies, major locomotives of the global economy, and voices from all the major continents” to carry “greater credibility and legitimacy”.
He said the four countries are ready to assume global responsibilities as he pressed for change, saying the world body reflects the mindset of a century “we left behind” and is not in tune with “new concerns” like terrorism and climate change.
It will make it more representative and effective in addressing the challenges of the 21st century, he said at the Summit meeting with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the first since 2004.
Modi noted that “some movement” had been seen recently in the decades-old endeavour when the UNGA took the “significant step” to commence text-based negotiations on the reforms but said it has to be taken to its “logical conclusion” during the current 70th session of the global body.
In a joint statement later, the G-4 leaders stressed that “a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council is needed more than ever to address the global conflicts and crises, which had spiraled in recent years.”
They strongly emphasized that the process underway in the UN to bring about the reform of the Security Council should be conducted, given its urgency, in a fixed timeframe.
The leaders emphasized that the “G-4 countries are legitimate candidates for permanent membership in an expanded and reformed Council and supported each other’s candidature.”
The G-4 “noted with concern that no substantial progress had been made since the 2005 World Summit where all the Heads of State and Government had unanimously supported early reform of the Security Council as an essential element of the overall effort to reform the United Nations.”
Leaders of the 11-year-old grouping, which has been jointly pushing for UNSC reform and their entry into it as permanent members, “expressed determination to redouble their efforts towards securing concrete outcomes during the 70th session of the General Assembly”.
They felt that legitimate reforms can be “achieved by reflecting the realities of the international community in the 21st century, where more member states have the capacity and willingness to take on major responsibilities with regard to maintenance of international peace and security.”
The four nations pledged to work together with all member states and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an “early and meaningful reform” of the UNSC, the joint statement said.
They supported Africa’s representation in both the permanent and non-permanent membership in the UNSC, while noting the importance of adequate and continuing representation of small and medium sized member states, including the small island developing states, in an expanded and reformed Council.
They also affirmed their resolve to continue contributing to the fulfillment of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, it said.
“The reform of the Security Council within a fixed time frame has become an urgent and important task,” Modi said.
Noting that the modern age faces challenges like trends in demography, urbanization and migrations, he said, “Climate change and terrorism are new concerns. Cyber and Space are entirely new frontiers of opportunities and challenges.”
The Prime Minister added, “Our institutions, approaches, and often mindsets, reflect the wisdom of the century we have left behind, not the century we live in. This is especially true of the United Nations Security Council.”
Modi, while making initial remarks, said the subject of reforms in the UNSC has been the focus of global attention for decades but “unfortunately, without progress” so far.
“We live in a fundamentally different world from the time the UN was born. The number of Member States has grown four-fold. Threats to peace and security have become more complex, unpredictable and undefined,” Modi said.
“We live in a digital age. The global economy is changed, with new engines of growth, more widely dispersed economic power and widening wealth gap,” Modi said, adding “In many ways, our lives are becoming globalized, but fault-lines around our identities are growing.”
He referred to the recent decision of the UNGA to commence text-based negotiations on UN reforms and said, “after decades, we finally see some movement. The 69th Session of the General Assembly has taken a significant step forward”.
At the same time, he said, “this is just the first step. We should aim to take this process to its logical conclusion during the 70th session.”
Talking about G-4, he said, “Our Group of four countries came together in 2004, bound by our shared commitment to global peace and prosperity, our faith in multilateralism and our willingness to assume our global responsibilities that the world expects from us.”
In her remarks, Merkel said the G-4 was not any “exclusive group” and it believes in taking others also along in its pursuit of ensuring reform of the UNSC.
Abe, while terming the meeting as a “golden opportunity”, said there was a “mounting momentum for change” and “voices of great nations should be heard”.
Rousseff also underlined the need for urgent reform of the world body.
The joint statement said the leaders welcomed the adoption by consensus of the General Assembly decision to use the text presented by the President of the 69th General Assembly in his letter dated July 31, 2015 as the basis for negotiations within the IGN (Inter-Governmental negotiations).
“They also pledged to support and cooperate with the President of the 70th General Assembly,” it said.
The leaders also noted with appreciation the efforts of member states in moving towards text-based negotiations.
Earlier, making a strong pitch for delinking terrorism from religion, Modi has asserted that a global response was required to effectively combat international terrorism propagated by outfits like the Islamic State (IS).
The threat posed by terror outfits like IS figured prominently during talks Modi had with King Abdullah of Jordan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session on Friday.
Modi discussed with Abdullah ways to prevent radicalisation of youth and to counter extremist messaging, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.
“Both leaders acknowledged that IS was one of the greatest challenges facing the international community. The Prime Minister said that there is a need to delink terrorism from religion,” Swarup said.
“The danger posed by IS and the issue of terrorism came up for discussion. The Prime Minister said a global response is required on the issue of terrorism,” an official statement said.
Referring to the long pending proposal of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, Modi said the time has now come for the international community to speak in one voice on this important issue and adopt this global convention.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister commended King Abdullah for the strong leadership that he has shown in the fight against international terrorism.
He thanked the King for the support that Jordan had provided when Indian citizens were trapped in Iraq and Syria and have to be evacuated.
Raising the issue of UN Security Council reforms, the Prime Minister said it was inconceivable that a country as large as India representing one sixth of humanity was not in the Security Council.
“This was something we have been agitating for a long time. We want that the 70th anniversary of the United Nations to be an occasion for the international community to step up to its obligations and reform this very important body of the United Nations,” he said.
The King of Jordan said he has always supported India’s aspirations to be a permanent member of the Security Council and added that Jordan is a very important country in a very important region from India’s point of view.
Abdullah said he valued India as a partner and wanted to increase the economic and security co-operation that Jordan has with India, Swarup added.
Meanwhile, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi jumping the allotted time by 13 minutes for his address to the UN Sustainable Development Summit here, a UN official presiding over the session remarked that every extra 60 seconds used by him represented every 100 million people.
“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Representing 1.2 billion people he had to exceed the time by 13 minutes, that means one minute for every 100 million people,” the UN official presiding over session in the UN General Assembly hall said to laughter and applause after the Indian leader finished his address to the 193-member UN body yesterday.
Modi’s address focused a call for climate justice, with the Prime Minister stressing that the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is the bedrock of the world’s collective enterprise.
Meanwhile, a number of influential American lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties are lining up to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to arrive at Silicon Valley today, organisers of the community reception have said.
Leading the group of lawmakers who have confirmed their presence at SAP Center in San Jose on September 27 include former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce.
Congressmen Ami Bera and George Holding, two co-chairs of the influential Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, would be present at the SAP Center reception which would be attended by a record 18,500 crowd of Indian-Americans.
Bera is the only Indian-American in the current Congress who represents a Silicon Valley district in the House of Representatives.
Among other lawmakers are Loretta Sanchez, Eric Swalwell, Mike Honda, Tulsi Gabbard, Sheila Jackson Lee, Pete Sessions, and Jim McDermott.
In addition, Jerry McNerney, John Garamendi and Dana Rohrabacher will also join their fellow Congressmen in welcoming the Prime Minister, said the Indo-American Community of West Coast, the newly formed organisation mandated to host Modi’s reception.
Congressman Eric Swalwell, who represents a large Indo- American constituency in the 15th Congressional district of California, released a video message in which he said that he is “pleased to welcome Indian Prime Minister Modi to our home in the Bay Area.”
Royce said Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley will bring the US and Indian tech sectors closer together, in large part because of the Indian-American community’s outstanding achievements here.
“Prime Minister Modi has already done much to help grow our economic partnership, setting the stage for economic growth,” he said.
Gabbard, a strong supporter of Modi, said “I’m looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi… He’ll be meeting with a variety of tech entrepreneurs and CEOs, seeing how we can further develop partnerships that will benefit both the Unites States’ and India’s economy.”
Though unable to attend the reception, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren posted a video message stating, “India and the Silicon Valley share the ideals of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
She exuded confidence that Modi’s meetings with Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, leaders and CEOs, can help build a stronger, profitable and more lasting relationship between the two nations.
Frank Pallone in a video noted the growth in the US-India relationship over the past 20 years and potential for continued expansion of the partnership in many arenas including shared strategic and economic interests.
Two prominent Senators joined their Congress counterparts in welcoming the Prime Minister to the US.
In a video message, John McCain, who was one of the first top officials to meet Modi on his last visit to the US, outlined the vision he has for a US-India partnership.
Senator Roger Wicker in a video message said he is very familiar with the common bonds and shared interests between the US and India, the largest free market democracy in the world. (PTI)
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