安保理改革に関する政府間交渉会合における石兼大使によるステートメント
令和4年2月8日
(Check against delivery)
Madam and Mr. Co-Chairs,
Thank you for convening this meeting. Japan aligns itself with the statement delivered by Ambassador T. S. Tirumurti of India on behalf of the G4. Please allow me to make additional remarks in my national capacity.
Japan's position on "regional representation" is the same as that stated by India on behalf of the G4, and therefore I will not repeat. Rather, I would like to focus my intervention on the process by which we should proceed during this session.
The problem we have all seen in the IGN over the years is that the positions expressed by Member States are not reflected in the IGN documents in an accurate and comprehensive manner. Hence, each Member State and group is compelled to repeat the same arguments every year.
Madam and Mr. Co-Chairs,
Japan welcomes your intention, as expressed in your letter dated 27 December last year, to provide Member States with further updates to the Co-Chairs' Elements Paper of 2021 and to provide the best basis for our discussion during this session.
Let me remind you, Madam and Mr. Co-Chairs, what we saw during the last session. The commitment of our Heads of State and Government in their 75th anniversary declaration to “instil new life in the discussion on the reform of the Security Council” had driven a great number of delegations to call for the launch of text-based negotiations and to request the Co-Chairs to create a single consolidated text with attribution to that end. We are extremely thankful to the Co-Chairs of the last session for specifying in their Elements Paper some attributions in the cluster of "regional representation", today's theme. This is a small but significant progress.
It is imperative that we make further efforts towards reflecting the breadth of our discussions by adding more attribution in the Co-Chairs’ Elements Paper. Japan encourages you to refine the attributions in the current Co-Chairs' Elements Paper, and add more attribution, based on the comments from each group and Member State in today's discussion, and share the revised paper with us before the next IGN meeting. Such updating exercise should take place after every meeting during this session. In this way, we will have a working text reflecting the exact positions of all groups and Member States, which would serve to better understand each other and narrow down our differences, hopefully by the end of this session. It should then be rolled over to the next session as the best basis of our IGN discussion.
I am simply insisting that the actual statement of positions, not only that of Japan or G4 but of all delegations, should be reflected in a more accurate manner. This is a procedural matter and do not in any way prejudge the outcome of future negotiations. Simply put, the IGN should follow the normal way we negotiate in the United Nations and elsewhere. Only then, can we say that the IGN process is truly transparent, inclusive, accountable, Member States driven, and legitimate.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that producing such working document to facilitate our discussions is the primary role and prerogative of any co-chairs of a meeting. We count on you, Madam and Mr. Co-Chairs, on your leadership in implementing the mandate of rollover decision A/75/569, in which we decided to reaffirm our commitment to "instil new life" in the IGN process.
Japan will engage constructively and support all efforts to advance the discussions, together with all Member States that are seriously engaged in the discussion on Security Council reform.
I thank you.