G4 Foreign Ministers Seek Early UNSC Reform

New York, Sept. 22 (Jiji Press)--Foreign ministers from the Group of Four countries, including Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi, called for early reform of the U.N. Security Council at a meeting in New York on Tuesday.

After the meeting, the G4 countries seeking Security Council reform, also including Germany, India and Brazil, released a joint statement emphasizing the need to increase both permanent and nonpermanent members.

"It is crucial to implement UNSC reform at the earliest," the statement said.

Motegi also participated in a meeting of the Friends of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which seeks to bring the treaty into force.

A joint statement adopted at the meeting said that 188 countries have signed the CTBT and that 177 have ratified it, calling for early signing and ratification by nine countries, including the United States, China, Russia and North Korea, which are necessary for the treaty to take effect.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]