STATEMENT
by
H.E. Igor Dzundev,
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations

at the

59th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

on the Agenda Item 11: Report of the Security Council and Agenda Item 53: Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters

New York, 12 October 2004

Mr. President,
I would like to make a short statement on the joint debate on the Report of the Security Council and on the Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters.

On the first issue, we would like to welcome the holding of a number of open meetings of the Security Council over the last year. This approach improves the quality of the work of the Council and should contribute to its decision making process. It also brings more transparency to the Council's work.

Regarding the issue of transparency let me also recall the importance of having early consultations of the Security Council with the member states before taking decisions that affect them. This can only contribute to the better understanding of the work of the Council but also on the implications of the decisions taken and its compliance by member states.

Mr. President,
The practice of open meetings is also an evidence of the change of pattern in the work of the Council, although one can argue that not all the issues immediately fall under the main responsibility of the Security Council. Today the efforts of maintaining international peace and security should not be seen only through the traditional role and practice of the Council as we had in the past, but also by addressing problems that are causing the conflicts, which is of no less importance then addressing the direct threats themselves. Aware of the fact that the world is changing and that we are confronted with new challenges, justify this new approach by the Security Council. This is yet another argument in favor of the need to reform the Security Council to became more credible and more representative.

Mr. President,
As other delegations before me have stated, my Delegation is looking forward to the report of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change that among other issues of key importance to the new role and response of the UN, should also make proposals on the reform of the UN Security Council. The proposals should be openly discussed among the member states with a view to have action-oriented results.

Having in mind the new increased role of the Security Council, one can legitimately raise the question of Council's reform in particular from the point of the necessity to expand its membership. The deliberations on this issues in the past years, as well as just concluded General Debate of this General Assembly led us to a conviction that there is widespread support among the United Nations members that in the new era, acknowledging the new realities and confronting the new challenges, it is necessary to have reformed and expanded Security Council. This expansion should bring more credibility and contribute to the effectiveness of its work.

The view of my Delegation is that Security Council must be reformed through increasing its membership from developing and developed countries to ensure its better geographical representation, but also to be strengthened in substance. As it was stated in this year's general debate by President Crvenkovski, Macedonia is supporting the increase of the membership on the Security Council, in both categories permanent and non-permanent.

However, the expanded role and membership of the Security Council should not make the role of the General Assembly less important and less visible. As we also notice the importance to reform the Security Council, we also need to strengthen the role of the General Assembly and of ECOSOC.

Thank you.