Mr. President,
The French delegation would like to thank you for organizing this meeting within the framework of our negotiations on Security Council reform.
Following several months of discussions after the launch of negotiations in February 2009, we believed it was time to begin a new phase that would finally allow us to engage in genuine negotiations.
We hoped that a document from the president would facilitate our discussions. A significant number of delegations, from all regions of the world, urged you to propose a text which would form the basis of our negotiations. That was a clear message.
You presented a document. We are very grateful to you for this.
We welcome the fact that we now have, for the first time, a text that presents the positions concerned in an organized way.
Obviously this document is not an end in itself.
It is a vital tool.
It is a means of supporting Security Council reform, our common objective that was confirmed by everyone in several General Assembly resolutions and decisions. As President Sarkozy said in his New Year greeting to the diplomatic corps, it is “needed more urgently than ever.”
This is an important step with respect to our efforts to advance the negotiations. As everyone knows, in order to achieve Security Council reform, a commitment by our political authorities at the highest level is essential in order to encourage everyone to take a flexible and creative approach.
We must now move forward.
Together with the United Kingdom, we have made concrete proposals. Our contribution, which is set out in the President’s document, is evidence of our unfailing political commitment and our willingness to discuss the issue by taking the necessary pragmatic approach.
Mr. President, the French delegation is waiting for you to provide guidelines that are likely to facilitate our negotiations. We are ready to work with all partners in order to determine, as swiftly as possible, which options are likely to lead to the broadest possible agreement.
Based on your document, we have important and technical work to do.
We are ready to meet this new challenge since we are determined to make significant progress during this session of the General Assembly.
Mr. President, I am relying on you to take the points I have just highlighted into consideration so that, together, we can make rapid progress in our negotiations.
Thank you.
