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As delivered

Introductory remarks by Peter Thomson, President of the ������ General Assembly, at GA Plenary for the consideration and adoption of the Oral decision on IGN71 on Security Council reform

19 July 2017

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Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,

As we conclude our deliberations this year on the “Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters related to the Security Council”, I would like to add my sincere thanks to the Co-Chairs, Ambassador Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania and Ambassador Mohamed Khaled Khiari, Permanent Representative of Tunisia, for diligently guiding the intergovernmental negotiations throughout the 71^st session. On behalf of the General Assembly, I say to both Ambassadors, yours was a job well done.

I also take this opportunity to extend sincere appreciation to all Member States and delegations for the understanding and cooperation that they extended to the Co-Chairs. It is the willingness of Member States to engage and interact with broad understanding and unflagging commitment that has made the Intergovernmental Negotiations such a critical element of the General Assembly’s work. And in the end it will be the willingness of Member States to explore convergences and commonalities, that will take us to the reforms we seek.

While the IGN this session has concluded with much work remaining to be done in terms of a reform model acceptable to all Member States, I believe that the “Commonalities” and “Issues for further consideration” outlined under each of the five clusters under discussion will serve to assist progress in the future work of the IGN.

I trust that the IGN will proceed from here to the 72^nd session with the same constructive energy and with a fresh spirit of flexibility to allow further progress on this central responsibility of the General Assembly’s work.

I thank you for your attention.