Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) Foreign ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Tuesday called for urgent reforms to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including expansion of permanent and non-permanent membership.

They also said that terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Minister of External Relations of the Federative Republic of Brazil Antonio de Aguiar Patriota and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who met here Tuesday for the 7th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission, reaffirmed their commitment at deepening dialogue in IBSA framework at government and other levels.

In a communique issued after the meeting, they underscored the role IBSA is playing in strengthening political coordination among the three countries on global issues of mutual interest.

“In this rapidly changing global order, the ministers underscored the increased strategic importance of IBSA as a forum of developing country democracies from three different continents based on shared values which play a critical role as an influential mechanism for further strengthening and fostering South-South cooperation and safeguarding and advancing the interests of the South,” the communique said.

On UN reforms, the ministers noted that their meeting was taking place when the three countries are non-permanent members of the UNSC.

“They emphasized the need for urgent reform of the UN Security Council, including expansion of permanent and non-permanent categories of its membership, with increased participation of developing countries in both categories. Towards this end, the representation of developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America is essential,” the statement said.

The ministers reaffirmed their resolve to maintain their close coordination as well as to reach out to the broader UN membership, in order to advance towards concrete results in the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform, by the end of the current session of the UN general assembly.

The ministers agreed that terrorism constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, hinders the enjoyment of human rights, and undermines social and economic development of democratic societies.

The leaders urged all UN member states to urgently conclude and adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Referring to the issue of Climate Change, the ministers reiterated the importance of working towards the establishment of an equitable outcome for the current climate change negotiations at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol to be held in Durban, South Africa in Nov-Dec 2011.

The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to an open, transparent and rule-based international trading regime and called for an early conclusion of the Doha Development Round with a balanced outcome which ensures the development needs of the developing countries, especially the least developed countries.

They renewed their support for global nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and for the complete, non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, within a specified timeframe.

The 8th IBSA Trilateral Commission Meeting next year will be held in South Africa.