Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in New York on Saturday.
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In a joint statement after their summit, convened by India, the G4 leaders “pledged to work together with all member states and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an early and meaningful reform of the Security Council”.
“This gives a feeling to us that the UN Security Council of 2015 is a mirror of the geo-political realities of 1945 and not that of the 21st century”, Swarup said, adding that only a reformed Council would be capable to properly address the challenges of the present days.
“Today, in the 70th year of the existence of the United Nations, there are expectations from all of us that through our wisdom, experience, generosity and expertise we will overcome these challenges”, he said.
He said the four countries are ready to assume global responsibilities as he pressed for change, 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. The number of Member States has grown four-fold.
Describing the USA and India as the new dynamic duo, an editorial in The Nation said they are “a terrifying combination”.
Prime Minister Modi said that it is “unfortunate” that no progress has been made in this direction despite the issue being at the centre of global attention for decades. “Threats to peace and security have become more complex, unpredictable and undefined”, Modi said.
“We live in a digital age. The global economy is changed, with new engines of growth, more widely dispersed economic power and widening wealth gap”, Modi said, adding “In many ways, our lives are becoming globalized, but fault-lines around our identities are growing”.
This is the first such summit after 2004 and comes after the UN General Assembly has resolved on a text-based negotiation on the Security Council’s reform. We should aim to take this process to its logical conclusion during the 70th session.
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While United States, UK, Russian Federation and France has supported the G4 position and the candidature of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan at the UNSC, China has been strongly opposing the expansion of the Security Council. He also focused on the need for reforms in the council. Pakistan, a member of the Uniting for Consensus group of countries which opposes any additional permanent members on the Security Council, told the 193-member Assembly that the document was partial and incomplete.
