The foreign ministers of four nations, including India, seeking permanent seats on the UN
Security Council will meet this weekend with the General Assembly president, a spokesman has said.
Djibril Diallo, the spokesman for General Assembly president Jean Ping, said Ping would meet the foreign ministers of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan on Sunday to discuss their proposal to reform the Security Council.
The proposal from India, Brazil, Japan and Germany would expand the council from 15 to 25 members, adding six permanent seats without veto power and four non-permanent seats. Those four each want a permanent seat, with the other two earmarked for Africa.
They have said they want a vote by next week.
Yet the prospects for the resolution began to cloud last week, when the 53-nation African Union came forward with its own council reform idea. A third group, called Uniting for Consensus, doesn't want to create any new permanent members and has remained steadfast in its opposition.
Diallo did not say what the ministers would discuss, or where they would meet, but it was almost certain to be in New York. Ping plays the key role in the procedures of the General Assembly, where any resolution on council reform would need two-thirds approval from its 191 members.
Ping may also have some sway with African leaders who are deciding what to do about their council reform proposal. African diplomats and government officials have been in New York discussing whether to push ahead with their idea or possibly defer to the other proposals.
