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Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, the so-called the Group of Four, will present their UN reform plan to win permanent UN Security Council seats next month, the foreign ministers of the four countries said Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq in Brussels.
"The four countries expressed their resolve to introduce the text of the framework resolution at the General Assembly meeting in July," according to a joint declaration of the group.
Under the proposal, four permanent seats will go to the four countries, with two other new permanent seats to go to African nations.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer confirmed Wednesday the plan for a July presentation, saying "We were of the joint opinion to lay down the timeframe, which means to come towards a decision after the African Union and Caribbean states summit meetings."
The African Union will meet on July 4-5 and Caribbean states will meet on July 3-6.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the plan would be presented to UN members.
"We have given a mandate to present a plan in July," the Brazil foreign minister said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed expanding the Security Council to make it more representative of the world in the 21st century.
The current UN Security Council has five permanent members with veto power -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France-- and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have been calling for expansion of the UN Security Council from the current 15 to 25 members, including six new permanent seats.
The draft resolution of the Group of Four needs the approval of two-thirds of the 191 UN members. That would have to be followed by another resolution to change the UN Charter, which requires a two-thirds vote and approved by the five permanent members.
(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2005)
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