Brazil, India and S Africa’s role appreciated in international affairs, support their aspiration for greater role in UN: BRICS statement

NEW YORK, Sept 23: China and Russia reiterated the importance they attach to the status and role of Brazil, India and South Africa in international affairs and supported their “aspiration to play a greater role” in the UN, according to a statement issued after the meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers here.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Alberto Franco Franca, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Naledi Pandor met here Thursday for the annual BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations meeting on the margins of the high-level UN General Assembly session.The five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – represent over 3.6 billion people or half of the world population.A press statement issued after the meeting said that the ministers appreciated the role of India and Brazil as members of the United Nations Security Council for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 terms respectively.
“The presence of four BRICS countries in the UNSC provides an opportunity to further enhance the weight of our dialogue on the issue of international peace and security and for continued cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” the statement said.
The ministers recalled the 2005 World Summit Outcome document and reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of the developing countries so that it can adequately respond to global challenges.
“China and Russia reiterated the importance they attach to the status and role of Brazil, India and South Africa in international affairs and supported their aspiration to play aChina, which has been blocking India's efforts to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, in February, reiterated its stand on New Delhi's bid and called for evolving a “package solution” that is acceptable to all to reform the top organ of the global body.
China is a permanent member of the UNSC while India began its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member on January 1, 2021.
China is part of the permanent five (P5) of the UNSC with veto power and has been stonewalling India's efforts to become a member of the UN's powerful body for years, pointing to a lack of consensus even though the other four, the US, the UK, France and Russia have expressed backing for New Delhi's membership.
The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, especially of the UN and its principal organs, in order to make the institutions and instruments of global governance more inclusive, representative, participatory, reinvigorated and democratic and to facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries, especially in Africa, in global decision-making processes and structures and make it better attuned to contemporary realities.
The ministers also emphasised the importance to ensure inclusive and effective work of the global governance system and the role in this regard of the G20 as a premier multilateral forum in the field of economic cooperation that comprises major developed and developing countries on an equal and mutually beneficial footing.
In this context, they expressed their firm view that the G20 should continue to function in a productive manner, focusing on the delivery of concrete outcomes, and taking decisions by consensus. greater role in the UN,” the statement said.
They commended the incumbent Indonesian Presidency for its effective steering of this platform and committed themselves to a constructive contribution towards the success of the upcoming G20 Bali Summit on November 15-16 2022, it said.
The ministers stressed their commitment to the important role of international organisations and to improve their efficacy and working methods, as well as to improve the system of global governance, and agreed to promote a more agile, effective, representative and accountable system that can deliver better in the field, address global challenges and better serve the interests of all member states