New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): The Foreign Ministers of the L.69 group of nations on Thursday held a meeting on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to exchange views on reform of the United Nations Security Council. The leaders called the expansion of the UNSC "essential" to make the body "more representative, legitimate, and effective."Notably, the L.69 group consists of developing nations from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (Small Island Developing States).

The L-69 Ministerial joint press statement read, "The Ministers reaffirmed that expansion of the Council, in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, is essential to make the body more representative, legitimate, and effective."It further stated, "In this regard, they reiterated their expectation that the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) process on UNSC reform will commence negotiations based on a single consolidated text, with the aim of delivering concrete outcomes within a fixed time frame."The ministers agreed that the increasingly complex and interconnected global challenges that exist today further highlight the urgency of reforming the UNSC in order to "better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities and to enhance its legitimacy, effectiveness, and implementation of its decisions," according to the L-69 Ministerial joint press statement.

The Foreign Ministers of the L.69 nations underscored the need for an enhanced role and presence of developing nations to improve the ability of the Council to respond effectively to the multiple, complex, evolving challenges the contemporary world faces on questions of international peace and security.

The ministers emphasised the importance of ensuring equitable geographical representation, particularly for under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups. They reaffirmed their strong support for the Common African Position (CAP).

The press statement said further "The ministers stressed the importance of ensuring equitable geographical representation, especially for under-represented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, in both categories of membership of the Security Council.""They reaffirmed their strong support to the Common African Position (CAP) and emphasized that Africa, given the historical injustice, needs to be fully represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of a reformed and expanded Security Council, in line with the CAP as enshrined in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration," it added. (ANI)