(AFP/File Emmanuel Dunand)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited African ambassadors to Egypt to the ministry to garner support for its bid to secure a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2016.
Assistant Foreign Minister Hisham Badr presented Egypt’s bid to the ambassadors at the ministry headquarters on Monday. He also thanked them for their countries’ support for Egypt during the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, which saw Egypt receive 300 recommendations to improve human rights. The ministry also distributed a booklet outlining Egypt’s campaign and stance on global security issues.
Badr stressed in the meeting that Egypt “will remain committed to fully towards the establishment of greater capacity and capability to meet the challenges and to respond to the aspirations of the peoples’ multilateral international system”.
He also pointed to the previous sessions in which Egypt held a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. This “came out of our contribution to the enrichment of the United Nations and the Security Council since 1945”.
The ministry official also pointed to Egypt’s contribution to UN peacekeeping forces and the latest efforts in global disarmament, conflict resolution and development projects in Africa.
Egypt is among several nations calling for reform within the UN Security Council, which is comprised of five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), and ten non-permanent members that hold their seats for two years.
Security Council resolutions require a majority vote to pass. The five permanent members able to exercise veto power on any resolution, whereas non-permanent members cannot.
Countries that are not members of the Security Council may participate in meetings without a vote.
There have been calls to amend the make-up of the council to be more representative of the current global balance of power. The permanent members of the Security Council have not changed since 1992, when Russia took the place of the Soviet Union.
The vote for the non-permanent seats is expected to take place during the 70th UN General Assembly in October 2015.
