By Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti
We concur with you that this is a historic day. The commencement of negotiations on Security Council reform brings us closer to the commitment made by our leaders in the 2005 World Summit, namely, to make the Council more broadly representative, efficient, effective and legitimate. My delegation would like to thank the President of the General Assembly for his leadership and you, Mr. Chairman, for you able guidance of our work.
The task now is to turn the event into a negotiating process that is geared to achieve substantive and action-oriented results. The overwhelming majority of Member States wants to get down to the actual business of reforming the Council. That is precisely what they meant as they adopted Decision 62/557, especially its paragraph "d", under which we are now gathered.
The work plan the President has submitted through his letter of yesterday helps us to move in such direction. We read it in the light of what he identifies as two main concerns, namely the integrity of the process and the attainment of "decisive progress" in the reform of the Security Council. We also read his work plan as a continuum of his remarks of 29 January, when he outlined his view of the negotiating process.
Mr. President,
I wish to briefly touch upon some key aspects of the work plan, which we welcome. It is substantive and broad enough to allow for a comprehensive discussion of all aspects of Security Council reform. Come March 4th, my delegation will do as requested and focus on the issue of categories of membership. I urge all delegations to heed the President's call.
Secondly, regarding the substantive basis for the discussion of such topic and all others, we can only agree that positions and proposals by Member States and the documents mentioned in subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (e) constitute the underpinnings of our future meetings. We must have in mind, however, that no one of such documents was conceived as a negotiating text. This is clearly the case of the report of the Vice-Presidents in the 62nd Session, contained in document A/62/47. There we find a summary of options for reform organized according to their proponents and not under the five key issues that will structure our negotiations. For that reason, we continue to believe that the best negotiating tool for this phase of our work is a composite text structured along the so-called five key issues. Such arrangement should objectively and accurately reflect the positions and proposals of all Member States or groups of Member States, without exception. A composite text would certainly expedite the negotiating process by allowing for a more thorough and focused discussion of the issues at stake. My delegation also maintains the view that we would all benefit if such a text were presented by the President or by yourself, with the impartiality and authority proper to your respective positions.
In concluding, Mr. Chairman, you can count on my delegation for a substantive and result-oriented discussion of all issues pertaining to the reform of the Security Council.
Thank you.
