MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bielsa: Argentina may chair Security Council

Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa yesterday said that as from next year Argentina may chair the United Nations' 15-member Security Council, the agency in charge of preventing armed conflicts worldwide.

"God willing, Argentina will become a member of the Security Council as from 2005 and, if this takes shape, as from January we will chair it," Bielsa said in a press conference in New York and aired by Government House in Buenos Aires. Presidency of the council rotates every month .

Bielsa said that if the chairmanship is confirmed, that would mean "to some extent, the confirmation that (Argentina) is making progress. Nowadays in the world, nobody entrusts the Security Council chairmanship to a country which, as some argue, has fallen off the world map."

No details were immediately available as to on what grounds Bielsa was speaking. On Tuesday night, after meeting with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Bielsa said that Powell showed confidence that Argentina may be able to "solve satisfactorily" its negotiations with private holders of about 90 billion dollars in bad Argentine bonds.

Argentina has a total public debt of about 180 billion dollars and its worst economic crisis in history forced it to declare the largest sovereign default in world history, having remained for a long time totally isolated from world financial markets and multilateral help.

Meanwhile, Brazil, Germany, India and Japan yesterday launched a joint bid for permanent Security Council seats, alleging that expanded membership was crucial to face new global challenges.

A joint statement said that the four countries, "based on the firmly shared recognition that they are legitimate candidates for permanent membership in an expanded Security Council, support each other's candidacy."

It added: "In order for the international community to effectively address the various threats and challenges that it presently faces, it is important to reform the United Nations as a whole."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is fostering reform of the Council and set up a panel which must present restructuring proposals this year.

The council has had the same five permanent members with veto power — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US —- in its almost 60-year life. Ten other nations are elected as non-permanent members for two-year terms each.

The proposal by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan provides for a permanent seat for Africa and an expansion of non-permanent membership.