NEW YORK, July 23 (KUNA) -- The State of Kuwait delegate to the UN, Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi took part earlier this week in a meeting held in Japan on reforming the United Nations Security Council.
The two-day meeting, organized by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, grouped officials of the UN member states, representatives of regional organizations and NGOs.
In remarks to KUNA from Tokyo, Ambassador Al-Otaibi said the "direct and candid talks were aimed at giving momentum to the issue of reforming the Security Council and pave way for reaching a consensus on this matter as well as devoting greater attention to it because it is a significant and sensitive affair." The figures that took part in the meeting represented "states that are very much convinced of the necessity to reform the Security Council, considering that the world will witness next year two major occasions, the 70th anniversary of the UN and the 10th anniversary of the 2005 world summit where states' leaders affirmed necessity to reform the Security Council as soon as possible," the Kuwaiti delegate said. However, he regretted that "no progress has been made since 10 years ago regarding this issue." States such as Japan, Germany, India, Brazil, South Africa are "pushing in direction of resolving this issue by September next year," he added.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi, the sole Arab ambassador who was summoned to the meeting, said "Kuwait is not in favor of the current situation, supports reforming the Security Council and increasing number of its members however the reforms must not be at expense of efficiency of the council," adding that he had conveyed his opinion on the issue to the other participants in the Japan-hosted meeting.
The officials who have taken part in the meeting are aware that the issue of reforming the Security Council is a difficult and complex matter but the time has come where the international community and the United Nations must take a decisive decision regarding this issue because negotiations regarding it have dragged on for more than two decades "and it is a sufficient period of time," Ambassador Al-Otaibi stated Ambassador Al-Otaibi expressed regret that the gulf of differences among the concerned states has remained very wide, indicating that some states with permanent membership status were against the approach to reform the council.
He stressed on necessity of reforming the council "particularly after it failed to tackle fateful issues that concern international peace and security especially in the Middle East and its inability to take a decision to halt the bloodletting in Syria and Gaza Strip." The Security Council's inability to take decisions on such key issues undermines its legitimacy, Ambassador Al-Otaibi cautioned, "and due to this reason some states believe that due to its inability there must be a push forward to take decisive decision on the reforms," noting that number of its members has grown more than double since establishment of the international organization in 1945.
Elaborating, Ambassador Al-Otaibi said the conferees affirmed necessity to set up a timetable to resolve this issue, noting that whole regional coalitions and continents such as Africa do not have a permanent seat in the council.
On veto usage, Al-Otaibi indicated at a consensus among the concerned states to "restrict its usage," but he explained a resolution in this respect would warrant approval of two thirds of the council member states including those with permanent membership status.
Many countries favor discussing the issue without setting a schedule "due to its sensitive and significant nature," he added. (end) sj.rk