Press Releases
Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G4 Countries on UN Security Council Reform
September 23, 2020
On September 23, from 9:00 p.m. to 9:40 p.m. (Japan time),the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries (Japan, Brazil, Germany and India) on UN Security Council Reform was held in an online format. Mr. MOTEGI Toshimitsu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, attended the meeting. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- Participants
- Mr. MOTEGI Toshimitsu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan
- Mr. ARAÚJO Ernesto, Foreign Minister of Brazil
- Mr. ANNEN Niels, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany (on behalf of Mr. MAAS Heiko, Foreign Minister of Germany)
- Dr. JAISHANKAR Subrahmanyam, Minister for External Affairs of India
- Summary
- (1) In the meeting, the G4 Foreign Ministers reviewed the current status of the UN Security Council reform and exchanged their views on the collective efforts of the G4 to seize the opportunity of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and make concrete progress on reform.
- (2) The Ministers expressed their concern that the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform during the 74th session of the UN General Assembly had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no alternatives, including holding virtual meetings, were provided thereafter despite requests from the G4. They confirmed their intention to call for a prompt starting of the IGN in the current session of the General Assembly and to continue aiming for improvement in the IGN process as well as launching substantial negotiations based on a text.
- (3) In addition, the Foreign Ministers stressed that the increased representation of countries with the capacity and willingness to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security and of Africa is indispensable to enhance the capacity of the Security Council to deal with contemporary global challenges. The Ministers shared the view that they would further step up their close collaboration with other like-minded countries to achieve an early reform of the Council.
