October 30, 2001
First, let me thank you, Mr President, for calling a debate on this agenda item.
Allow me to pay tribute to the contribution to the reform debate made by your predecessor as President of the General Assembly, Mr Harri Holkeri, and his two Vice-Chairmen, Ambassadors de Saram and Ingolffsson. We now look forward to working with you and your Vice-Chairmen during the coming year.
The United Kingdom remains committed to implementing the call of world leaders in the Millennium Declaration to achieve a comprehensive reform of the Security Council in all its aspects. As a permanent Council member, we realise that it remains essential that the Security Council be made more representative of the modern world, and thus better equipped to tackle the many familiar and new challenges on its agenda.
The United Kingdom regrets that there has been little progress this year towards Council enlargement, despite the efforts of President Holkeri. Yet we see clear evidence of the emergence of general consensus on certain issues: for example, that expansion must include developing countries. It has also become clear that a majority wish to see expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership. We welcome the efforts made by Mr Holkeri and his bureau in the preparation of Conference Room Papers to focus the debate in the Open-Ended Working Group. While of course the OEWG works on the basis that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, the United Kingdom's approach during UNGA 55 was to attempt to narrow the areas of disagreement. This continues to be our approach. We hope this will allow the OEWG to focus on areas where agreement is possible and to move progressively to the more difficult questions, while maintaining the ultimate goal of achieving a comprehensive reform package.
We are pleased that further progress has been made over the last year on improving the Council's working practices. The United Kingdom and other Security Council Presidencies have contributed to this process. A number of innovations have been taken forward. The balance between public meetings and informal consultations may still not be quite right. But we have sought to hold as many Council meetings in public as possible. We have also conducted personal briefings by the Presidency of non-members after informal consultations. We have invited non-members to speak at Council in most debates. We have also sought to improve consultations with non-members, particularly through briefings with Troop-Contributing Countries. We attempted to hold a meeting with ECOSOC members during the Presidency in April to discuss areas of work where intergovernmental co-ordination clearly needs to be enhanced, such as peace-building. As Chair of the new Counter-Terrorism Committee, I have already held a number of briefings to inform the wider membership of the work underway in the Committee. Our strong support for coordination and transparency in all these areas will continue.
The work of the Council has now become significantly more accessible to non-members, without any diminution in its ability to take effective action. I hope the Council will continue this welcome trend towards openness, and that it will be prepared to try further innovations when necessary. In response, it would be good to see the wider membership using the greater opportunities to address the Council to debate points more spontaneously and interactively. The United Kingdom will continue to encourage an evolution in that respect.
The United Kingdom is committed to making real progress on Security Council reform during the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly. We stand ready to assist you, Mr President, and your Vice-Chairmen with our full support.
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