Describing the UN Security Council reforms as a "big challenge", UN General Assembly President-elect Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces today said she will push for a dialogue to achieve consensus on the "divisive" issue and revitalise the process during her presidency.
Garces said the UNSC reforms had come up for discussion during her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week along with other important issues such as climate change, the International Solar Alliance and South-South cooperation.
Asked about the long-pending UNSC reforms process at an event at the Indian Council of World Affairs here, Garces said, "I think that is a pending issue -- very contentious, very divisive. My role is going to be to listen carefully to the member states. Security Council reform is a member driven process, very complicated, and I will do my best to push for dialogue for consensus and revitalise the process itself."
Noting that it was a process that had taken more than 25 years, she said that it was "one of the big challenges" for the organisation.
"I will use my role as a facilitator, as convenor, as a bridge, and bring closer the different positions on this issue," said Garces, a former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, who will be the fourth woman president of the UNGA.
India's Vijayalakshmi Pandit was first-ever woman president of the UNGA.
To queries about her meeting with the prime minister and their discussion on UN Security Council reform, she told reporters, "The prime minister is totally aware of all the challenges that the UN faces. Of course, one of pending issues is the Security Council reform process. I am in the process of appointing two co-facilitators to bring forward this issue."
India, along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan, is aspiring to become a permanent member of an expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The countries, known as the G4, are supporting each other's bids for permanent membership of the UNSC.
Garces, who is on a visit here from August 10-14, said that during her meeting with Prime Minister Modi they discussed several issues of multilateral agenda and the seven priorities of her presidency, including gender equality, migration, the issue of peace and security from a preventive approach and the role of youth.
The president-elect of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) said she also discussed the revitalisation of the UNGA with Prime Minister Modi.
On the issue of combating terrorism and the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, she said, "I am totally aware that more than 20 years ago, India already proposed the need to establish a normative international framework on counter terrorism. The organisation and member states are still discussing the issue. It is not an easy issue. Sometimes it can be divisive."
Noting that there was no agreement on the very definition of terrorism, Garces said that more than ever there was a need in the present times to have a common understanding of terrorism because it was a global problem that needs to be addressed by the multilateral system.
Earlier, in her speech on 'Revitalisation of United Nations' at the ICWA, she said that multilateralism was "under threat" and there was a need to change that narrative.
"We see this in the current trade wars that threaten to undermine development and peace and security. We see this in the abandonment or neglect of global agreements and treaties. And we see this in the willingness, ill-intended or otherwise, to turn a blind eye to the plight of millions who suffer daily under the threat of violence, displacement, conflict," Garces said.
A return to unilateral decision-making and action, reluctance to fund and support bodies and agencies that have helped move the world towards a better direction are indicative of mistrust and misunderstanding of an increasingly 'go it alone' approach, she said.
Garces asserted that there was a need to change this narrative which would require willingness to acknowledge geopolitical developments and a "dare to change".
She said the UN or the UNGA cannot afford to remain static and must be "nimble", responsive and be adaptable to new global realities.
"I have committed to an open door presidency, working hand in hand with the member states and the UN secretary general and in alignment with the presidents of the ECOSOC and the Security Council," she said.
Garces said that in recent years, the UNGA has taken steps to ensure full transparency in its actions and decisions.
She said it was a challenge for the president-elect of the General Assembly to spend the very short transition period seeking resources for a trust fund to allow this essential office to operate.
"I am therefore grateful for the generosity of member states such as India to have provided support to the trust fund," she said.
Garces asserted that revitalisation of the UNGA would be done by teaming up with India and other friendly countries.
She said that as the president of the UNGA, she would put forward an agenda of DARE -- delivery, accountability, relevance and efficiency. She also hailed a global pact on migration, agreed upon earlier this year, which will be formally adopted during a conference in Morocco in December.
India's former permanent representative to the UN Asoke Mukerji and former Indian envoy to Pakistan T C A Raghavan were also present at the event.
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