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New York, United States of America (USA)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Speaking at the General Assembly in New York, Macron also supported the candidacy of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and two countries from Africa
Delivering his address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron voiced strong support for India’s inclusion in a reformed UN Security Council (UNSC).
Speaking at the General Assembly in New York, Macron also supported the candidacy of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and two countries from Africa. “Let’s make the UN more efficient. We need to make it more representative and that’s why France is in favour of the Security Council being expanded,” he said. “Germany, Japan, India, and Brazil should be permanent members, along with two countries that Africa will decide to represent them,” he added.
Watch: At UNGA address, French President Emmanuel Macron backs India’s Inclusion in reformed UNSC; he also backed Brazil, Germany, Japan & 2 countries from Africa pic.twitter.com/IAQHZLMCAi— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) September 26, 2024
Only five countries hold permanent membership and veto power on the UNSC: the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom. Several nations, including permanent UNSC members like the US, have expressed support for India’s inclusion in this powerful group. However, China has frequently opposed the proposal.
Meanwhile, India continued its efforts to move the process of UNSC reforms forward, including by engaging actively in the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on the Security Council reform. Macron’s support comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for reformed multilateral forums at the UN stage.
On Monday, PM Modi stressed that the future relevance of UN agencies hinges on how swiftly they can reform, implicitly referencing India’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council. The long pending UNSC reform continues to be a big talking point.
On Sunday, Quad leaders called for urgent reforms to the UNSC to make it more representative and called for its expansion to include representation from more countries. After the leaders’ summit in President Joe Biden’s hometown, Quad leaders called for expanded permanent membership to include representation from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
“We will reform the UN Security Council, recognizing the urgent need to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council,” the joint statement read.
