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Talks on UN reform underway, but main players not ready to make complex decision — Churkin

The decision on the beginning of official intergovernmental negotiations on the Security Council reform had been taken in 2007
Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT
Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin
© EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

MOSCOW, September 29. /ITAR-TASS/. The negotiations on the UN reform are underway, but the main players are not ready yet to make complex decisions, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said in an interview to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily to be published on Monday.

This issue is very important and, naturally, much attention is given to it, he said. But “so far, in my view, the main protagonists are not ready to make very complex, painful decisions that could advance the negotiating process on the Security Council reform,” Churkin said.

The decision on the beginning of official intergovernmental negotiations on the Security Council reform had been taken in 2007. It was preceded by 11 years of consultations.

“Since then, 10 rounds have been held with the specific agenda, and five main blocks of questions were singled out. These 10 rounds of talks further clarified the sides’ positions, but they made little progress for the reform success,” Churkin said.

According to him, there are two groups of counties. The first group wants new permanent members of the UN Security Council to be admitted. The second is categorically opposed to this. “The problem is that both groups have no majority required for taking the decision,” the ambassador said.

To adopt the Security Council reform decision, it is necessary to adopt the resolution of the UN General Assembly, for which 129 countries are required to vote. “So far, neither group has the courage to put this resolution to the vote. Because if the resolution on the Security Council expansion is put to the vote and 129 votes are not secured, the whole reform process will be frozen for the foreseeable future,” Churkin said.

Russia believes “the maximum possible number of countries should be ready to support this reform, this is the point,” Churkin said. “Some say that as the UN will turn 70 next year, it is necessary to adopt something significant. We don’t share this viewpoint. We think that the Security Council reform issue is so important that this decision should ripen,” the Russian ambassador to the UN said.