We are Legitimate Candidates for UN Security Council Membership: G4 Leaders

New York: India, Japan, Germany and Brazil today said that the nations "legitimate" candidates for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council as they pushed for its reform in a "fixed timeframe". Hosting the special summit in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the task should be accomplished immediately.

PM Modi said the UN Security Council "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".

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.

It will make it more representative and effective in addressing the challenges of the 21st century, he said at the Summit attended by the leaders of the four nations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the first since 2004.

PM Modi noted that "some movement" had been seen 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.

In a joint statement later, the G-4 leaders stressed that "a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council is needed more than ever to address the global conflicts and crises, which had spiraled in recent years."

They strongly emphasized that the process underway in the UN to bring about the reform of the Security Council should be conducted, given its urgency, in a fixed timeframe.

The leaders emphasized that the "G-4 countries are legitimate candidates for permanent membership in an expanded and reformed Council and supported each other's candidature."