(As delivered)
Statement by H.E. Ambassador Koro Bessho
Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
At the 42nd Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly
On Agenda Item 122:
Question of Equitable Representation on and
Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and
Other Matters Related to the Security Council
7 November 2016
Mr. President,
I would like to join many others in expressing sincere appreciation for convening this important meeting and welcome your appointment of Ambassador Mohamed Khaled Khiari of Tunisia and Ambassador Ion Jinga of Romania as the new Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN). As you rightly pointed out in this very GA Hall, when taking the solemn oath of office on September 13th, “the question is not whether reform is necessary, but how and in what form it will be achieved.” Mr. President, you can count on our full support to this idea.
Mr. President,
I align myself fully with the statement made by Ambassador Harald Braun, Permanent Representative of Germany, on behalf of the G4. I cannot stress enough how important it is to commence text-based negotiations without further delay, taking into account that an overwhelming majority supports enlargement in both permanent and non-permanent categories. I am glad to hear similar views from many other Member States. I also greatly welcome the establishment of the Group of Friends on Security Council Reform. The voices of this group, formed around shared opinions, should be taken into consideration.
Mr. President,
Today I would like to respectfully ask you to give the Co-Chairs a clear mandate to share a roadmap for text-based negotiations. With a roadmap aiming at a specific outcome, Member States can work meaningfully throughout this session of the General Assembly.
We all know very well the positions and proposals of Member States. They are all reflected in the Framework Document and its annex, which rolled over to this session. We have also heard, once again, detailed statements of Member States on each of the all 5 key issues during the last session. What we have to do now is to start preparing a concise and operational negotiation text, preferably in the form of a draft resolution, and to immediately launch negotiations within a specific timeframe. Mr. President, I hope we will be able to enter into serious text-based negotiations, not into another exhaustive round of speeches. Let us not get ourselves bogged down in procedural discussions like these any longer. We are too familiar with it and have perfected the art of delay. Instead let us engage with each other on substance in the coming text-based negotiations. It is time for concrete action to back our many, many words of reform.
Before closing, let me quote Mr. Kofi Annan, whose words were reiterated by Secretary General designate Antonio Guterres at the informal dialogue on April 12th. “No reform of the United Nations will be complete without the reform of the Security Council.”
I thank you, Mr. President.
