MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. The reform of the UN Security Council must begin with introducing a permanent African member, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

"There is no African member in the permanent members of the Security Council. And, of course, it will be very difficult to change all this from one moment to another, but we should start by something in which a consensus might be possible. And I think today, when I listened to the permanent five, […] I believe that consensus will be possible. To have at least one African permanent member of the Security Council that is the first step," the secretary-general said.

He stressed that the issue of reforming the UN Security Council has not been brought up for years. "For a long period this was a taboo. And I will say that it was now, during my mandate, that for the first time, there is a recognition that this is a serious question that needs to be discussed," Guterres said. "Not an easy question, but a serious question. I mean, soon as the Council was formed after the Second World War, and just to give an example, Europe is a relatively small continent, but in the 15 members of the Security Council, there are today six Europeans," he added.

"And obviously, I think more developing countries should be in the Security Council," Guterres concluded.