G4 lobbies for Security Council seats

cctv.com 07-18-2005 09:19

The foreign ministers of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have met UN leaders in New York, as they continue to lobby for permanent seats in the Security Council.

On Sunday, the ministers of the Group of Four said they would not call for a vote on their vision for the UN Security Council reform until late next week at the earliest.

They stressed that the decision has less to do with dissent among UN member states than with scheduling in the UN General Assembly, where the vote will be held.

The body's president, Jean Ping, will be on vacation this week. But the move gives the G-4 and their allies more time to negotiate with the 53-nation African Union and others over the council's reform. The United Nations has grappled with the issue for more than a decade.

In its current form, the 15-member council has five permanent members with veto power - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Other nations fill the remaining 10 seats in two-year rotating terms.

The G-4 supports a plan to expand the council from 15 to 25 members, adding six permanent seats without veto power and four non-permanent seats.

The four each want a permanent seat, with the other two earmarked for Africa.

Any resolution would need two-thirds support of the 191-nation UN General Assembly.

Editor:Wang Ping  Source:CCTV.com