United Nations, March 13 (IANS) UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak is engaging himself in the negotiations for Security Council reform to move the long-stalled process forward, according to his spokesperson Brenden Varma.
"The president engages as much as he can and as much as the member states allow him to and he will continue to do so," Varma told reporters on Monday when asked about the progress of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN), as the reform process is known.
Acknowledging that it "is a very difficult and contentious process," he said that "it is a member states-driven process and for the President's part, he will do what the member states allow him to do".
He noted that Lajcak appointed Ambassadors Kaha Imnadze of Georgia and Lana Nusseibeh of United Arab Emirates "to take the process forward."
"Negotiations are continuing and we have to really see what the members states come up with," he added.
On Thursday, Lajcak met Imnadze and Nusseibeh.
India, which seeks a permanent seat in the reformed Security Council, is heavily invested in the reform process.
Lajcak rebooted the reform process in November, saying: "The time for trying is up; now is the time for action," and appointing Imnadze and Nusseibeh as IGN co-chairs.
The negotiation process has been stalled for more than a decade with the 193 members of the UN unable to even agree on a negotiating document that would set the agenda and be the starting point for real negotiations on reforms.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
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