Malaysia Ready To Expand Security Council Membership

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is ready to expand membership of the Security Council, both in the permanent and non-permanent categories, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Saiful Azam Abdullah. Speaking at a plenary meeting in New York on Wednesday, he said Malaysia favoured the expansion of both categories of the council's membership and believed the expanded membership should reflect the realities of today's world. "Many of us here are eager to know where we go from here. The discussion should not stop here but move forward, which is the only sensible path to take," he said in a statement made available to Bernama here Thursday. Saiful was participating in the eighth round of intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation over the increase in the council's membership and other related matters. On another note, he said the majority of member states wanted to see immediate improvement in the council's working methods. He noted that the council, while being master of its own working methods, should also move with the times. On veto power, Saiful said that Malaysia had consistently called for the abolishment of veto power, in conformity with the principle of sovereign equality as envisaged in the United Nations Security Council. --BERNAMA