The first meeting to negotiate the UNSC reforms on the basis of the July 31 text will be convened on February 3 next year.
Moving the long-pending UN Security Council (UNSC) reform process forward, the chair of the inter-governmental negotiations will convene a series of meetings beginning in February next year, a development that bodes well for India which has been demanding an early completion of the process.
Chair of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) Sylvie Lucas informed the UN membership through a letter of her decision to continue the IGN process in the 70th session and move the reform process forward on the basis of the text circulated in July this year and adopted by consensus by the 193-member Assembly.
Ms Lucas, who was appointed by current UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft in October, said she will keep the positions and proposals of Member States in the centre of the discussions.
The first meeting to negotiate the UNSC reforms on the basis of the July 31 text will be convened by Lucas on February 3 and will focus on the key issue of the relationship between the Council and the General Assembly with the aim of identifying areas of convergence between the positions and proposals of Member States on that particular key issue.
Subsequent meetings will focus on the other key issues beginning with the size of an enlarged Security Council and working methods of the Council, she said in the letter.
"I envision a series of meetings to comprehensively cover the...key issues...using the above-mentioned text and its annex to spark constructive and substantive engagement towards seeking convergences in the positions and proposals of Member States," Ms Lucas said referring to the July 31 negotiating text.
President of the 69th session of General Assembly, Sam Kutesa had circulated the text in July this year that contained the positions of various UN members on how the permanent and non-permanent seats of the UNSC should be expanded along with their proposals for the use of the veto.
In a landmark decision in September, the UN General Assembly had adopted by consensus the negotiating text, setting the stage for negotiations to begin on UNSC reforms on the basis of a text for the first time in nearly two decades.
Ms Lucas said that additional informal meetings could also be held as a follow up to the discussions of UN member states. She also encouraged Member States to transmit updates to the text, areas of convergence, or any new positions and proposals.