‘Good beginning’: India on Pact of the Future’s language on UNSC reforms

India welcomes 'Pact of the Future' at U.N. summit, pushing for Security Council reform and text-based negotiations.

India said that a U.N. summit document for the first time containing a detailed paragraph on Security Council reform is a “good beginning” and New Delhi looks forward eventually to the beginning of text-based negotiations in a fixed time frame to reform the 15-nation body.

World leaders on Sunday (September 22, 2024) adopted by consensus the 'Pact of the Future', promising to “reform the Security Council, recognising the urgent need to make it more representative, inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable”.

U.N. officials have described the language in the 'Pact of the Future' on the long-pending Security Council reforms as “groundbreaking”.

“I would only point you in the direction of the fact that for the first time, a U.N. summit document has a detailed paragraph on UN Security Council reform," said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in response to a question on how India sees this language on UNSC reform in the 'Pact of the Future'.

“So it may not have every single detail in every area that we would imagine or we would like there to be, but I think it's a good beginning,” Mr. Misri told PTI.

Mr. Misri said that India looks forward “eventually to the beginning of text-based negotiations in a fixed time-frame going forward”.

“But this should be seen as the first step towards that objective. The fact that till now, we haven't really had discussions based on text but an agreement at this level in the pact, where it keeps open the possibilities of reform of the UN system, is a gain from any perspective,” he said.