Flexibility necessary during Security Council reform talks – Assembly President

General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim today called on United Nations Member States to show “effective flexibility” during negotiations on reshaping the Security Council’s size and membership and to remember that without compromises by all sides there will be no reform.

Mr. Kerim told the Open-ended Working Group on Security Council reform, meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, that he aimed to present a report to the General Assembly with agreed recommendations on the issue before the end of this current session in September.

Therefore, Member States should show “effective flexibility,” he said, and ensure that the interests and concerns of all sides are accommodated, especially those which are currently underrepresented.

He stressed that reform of the Council, which currently has five permanent and 10 non-permanent members, is an integral part of the overall wider strengthening of the UN.

Mr. Kerim and his Task Force on this issue – comprised of the Assembly President and the permanent representatives of Bangladesh, Chile and Portugal – plan to initiate a round of consultations with Member States on the contributions so far, his spokesperson Janos Tisovszky told reporters.

He added that Mr. Kerim is adding the permanent representative of Djibouti to the Task Force.