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Mr President
New Zealand welcomes the Vice-Chairpersons’ report and we thank them for their outreach. We find the report a useful one. It reminds us as Member States that to move from the present impasse will require flexibility and a readiness to compromise.
New Zealand certainly has the will to stay engaged in this process and to seek workable solutions. We share the general view that the time has come for reform of the Security Council, both through expansion and through reform of its working methods.
A significant amount of work has gone into the exploration of new ideas over the past 18 months and we commend all those facilitators who have contributed to this. Some momentum has been generated and we should build from this. We agree, Mr President, that we have achieved the necessary preconditions to begin intergovernmental negotiations. New Zealand would support now moving to intergovernmental negotiations.
Of the various options for expansion - contained in the Task Force report and earlier reports - that would be taken up in intergovernmental negotiations, the transitional approach may emerge as a way to move past the current deadlock. New Zealand would be open to exploring various possibilities for an interim solution, with a mandatory review date to be agreed.
The Task Force has noted that all Member States and interest groups favour an improvement in the Council’s working methods. No matter what model of expansion might eventually be agreed, it will still be the case that the great majority of Member States will continue to follow the Council’s business from outside the chamber. Improving the Council’s transparency, accountability and inclusiveness is therefore one of the most important areas for reform and one on which there is a broad measure of agreement. For this reason, irrespective of the course of our future debate on expansion, we trust that the changes suggested by the S5 can begin to be implemented.
While New Zealand is willing to consider a range of reform proposals aimed at expansion of the Security Council, there are certain elements on which our position is firm. We cannot accept any extension of the right of veto. We also consider that an expanded Council should include a place for Japan.
