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Mr. President,

Let me add a few words in my national capacity, aligning myself with the statement delivered by Japan on behalf of the G4.

The G4 statement and many other speakers have already made this point, but it cannot be stressed enough: We need a representative Security Council to both credibly and effectively deal with the complex challenges to international peace and security the world faces today.

For that to happen, we need to finally turn the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform (IGN) into a body that is actually worthy of this name. In our view, this cannot mean that we continue to repeat well-known positions there. For us, it means instead that we need one consolidated document on which we work together, and proceed with text-based negotiations according to normal rules of the General Assembly.

It is unacceptable that after more than ten years, we have not even inched towards the starting point of what will certainly be a negotiation marathon. We should be aware that the IGN might be reaching the end of its credibility, that it risks turning into a symbol of what is not working at the United Nations.

I therefore ask all of you to make a united push. We may need to reach across the lines: The G4 has already done that. We have for instance, signaled our support to the African position. We do need to finally start running!

We have full confidence that our highly capable and experienced co-facilitators, Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar, and Ambassador Martin Bille Hermann of Denmark, will do their utmost to ensure progress, and we assure them of our support.