UN General Assembly
2003

Increase in the Membership of the Security Council has, in our view, done all that is humanly possible to solicit a wide range of views and to try to bridge the differences that have emerged. But, regrettably, little progress has been made. It is clear to us that this matter, which is of vital importance to the whole Organization, will only move forward if there is political will on the part of some key Member States. This issue cannot continue to defy our collective wisdom after 10 years of deliberation. A compromise solution must emerge soon or history will judge us harshly. We welcome what now seems to be an emerging consensus towards the revitalization of the General Assembly. The speeches delivered in the Assembly have been correctly observed by the Secretary-General in his report as being repetitive and sterile. The agenda tends to be too long, and often results in a duplication of issues. We share the proposal to keep the agenda short and focused, with a number of issues clustered. Long speeches should be replaced by more focused