India, other aspirants flay 'concerted attempts to stall' UNSC expansion

New Delhi, September 23

In an attack on the stalled process to expand the UN Security Council (UNSC), four aspirants for its permanent membership, including India, have issued a joint statement assailing its inability to effectively address contemporary challenges due to lack of reforms.

In the joint statement issued in New York, the Foreign Ministers of India, Japan, Germany and Brazil also expressed disappointment at the “concerted attempts to stall” the expansion of the UNSC.

They were pessimistic about the process moving forward during the ongoing session of the UN General Assembly and said the inter-governmental negotiations in this respect were marred by a “lack of openness and transparency”. Despite the adverse headwinds, the four Foreign Ministers — S Jaishankar, Carlos Alberto Franco França (Brazil), Annalena Baerbock (Germany) and Yoshimasa Hayashi (Japan) – reiterated their determination to work towards commencing text-based negotiations without further delay.

A meeting of five BRICS countries saw Jaishankar in the same room as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The chill however continued and they were not reported to have held a bilateral so far. Other Foreign Ministers present at the meeting were Franca (Brazil), Sergey Lavrov (Russia) and Naledi Pandor (South Africa).

In a shot in the arm for India, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Quad batted for the UNSC expansion.