Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres meets Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (not seen) in New York, USA on January 5, 2017. ( Volkan Furuncu - Anadolu Agency )
New York: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reportedly voiced a strong desire to reform the Security Council.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama met with Guterres at UN headquarters in New York on Friday. He quoted the new secretary-general as saying that the make-up of the Security Council has been the same for more than half a century and it needs to be changed, Japan's broadcaster (NHK World) reported Saturday.
Guterres took office on January 1st.
The number of non-permanent council members rose by 4 to 10 in 1965, but the number of permanent members was unchanged.
In 2005, Japan and other nations submitted a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly that called for increasing the number of permanent seats. But there has been little progress on the matter.
Attention is focused on how Guterres will exert his leadership in the reform debate.
