The Prime Minister, António Costa, said on Thursday that with the candidacy for a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2027-2028, Portugal wants to contribute to making the UN fairer, more effective and more representative.
In his speech at the general debate of the 77th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, António Costa reaffirmed the Portuguese position in favor of reforming the Security Council so that “the African continent is present” in this body and ” at least Brazil and India have a permanent seat”.
According to the prime minister, there is also a need for “smaller states to be more fairly represented” in the UN Security Council, which should reflect the changes that have taken place worldwide since 1945.
“The world has changed radically since then,” he emphasized.
“The challenges we face today make it inevitable to continue to adapt this house of ours, to make it more efficient, fairer and more representative. Portugal is also ready to make its contribution. And that is why we are candidate for the Security Council in the biennium 2027-2028 and we hope to gain your trust once again,” he added, associating this candidacy with the reform of the UN.
António Costa claimed that “strengthening multilateralism is not an option” but “an absolute necessity to face global challenges” and “build a more peaceful, sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future”.
“Today it is time to move from words to deeds: with more cooperation, more solidarity and more multilateralism. Portugal, as always, will not miss this call,” he promised at the end of his speech, which was delivered in Portuguese. held.
The UN Security Council has the United States of America, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China as permanent members, with veto power.
The Prime Minister defended a Security Council “representative, agile and functional, able to meet the challenges of the 21st century without becoming paralyzed, and whose action is controlled by the other members of the United Nations”.
Instead, he said it should be a body “integrating a comprehensive vision of security, recognizing in particular the role of climate change as an accelerator of conflict”.
“The transformative potential of the United Nations is immense, but for that it is necessary to give it the necessary tools to meet the high expectations placed on it by the world’s population,” he said.
Source: DN
