UNSC must include world's largest democracies, says Prime Minister Modi at G4 Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26 September pressed for UNSC reform within a "fixed timeframe" in the current session of the UNGA, 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.

Hosting a Summit of leaders of Germany, Japan and Brazil under the G-4 format in New York, he said the UNSC "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".

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 witnessed 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. "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," the Prime Minister said.

"The reform of the Security Council within a fixed time frame has become an urgent and important task," he said, while talking about the modern age challenges like trends in demography, urbanization and migrations. "Climate change and terrorism are new concerns. Cyber and Space are entirely new frontiers of opportunities and challenges, he said.

G-4 is a grouping which has been jointly pushing for reform of the UN Security Council to make it broad-based by including them as permanent members.

--PTI