Japan, India, Brazil and Germany will submit a new resolution to the UN General Assembly on the expansion of the Security Council, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said Thursday.

 

Singh made the announcement to the press after he and his Brazilian, Japanese and German counterparts held talks on the Security Council's expansion in the Indian mission to the UN.

 

Singh said the four countries, known as the Group of Four or G4, will submit the new resolution to the 60th session of the General Assembly at an appropriate time.

 

Japan, India, Brazil and Germany aspire to become permanent members on an enlarged council. The council is currently composed of five veto-holding permanent members and 10 elected members with two-year terms.

 

The four countries have campaigned heavily for support for a draft resolution they tabled to the 59th session of the General Assembly, which calls for an increase of six permanent members and four non-permanent ones on the Security Council.

 

But the resolution met with strong opposition from many countries and became invalid after the closing of the 59th session of the 191-nation General Assembly on Tuesday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2005)