Informal meeting of the plenary on the intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Council

New York, 26 January 2023                                                                       

Good day Co-Chairs and distinguished colleagues,

I am most grateful to you Co-Chairs for convening the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform (IGN) – an item of importance on the agenda of our United Nations that has been very elusive to successfully bring to a conclusion despite decades of hard work by the members of this Body – so early in the year. 

Co-Chairs, on this particular topic, the delegation of Micronesia would first like to align this very brief intervention with the statement by Her Excellency Inga Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines delivered earlier on behalf of the L69 Group.   The content of her statement is yet another excellent summation of the views and position of the L69 Group on the topic before us.  So I will not bore you with an iteration of those positions that we espoused and have expressed so many times in our national capacity.

For small delegations like my own that have limited resources, including human resources, we can’t help but wonder what might be preventing the success of our deliberations.  We admire the successes of other UN processes that started way after this one began.  One critical difference between this process and others, lays in the working methods.  In this particular process, the lack of a text-based negotiation has hampered any success and meaningful progress, whatsoever.  It is therefore worth restating here that to begin any substantive negotiations this process must have a text based negotiation if we are to make headway.

Thank you, Co-Chairs.