UNITED NATIONS, April 2: As Japan, Germany, India and Brazil formally kicked off their campaign on Thursday to secure permanent seats in an expanded UN Security Council, diplomats here expressed doubts that the four could secure enough votes in UN General Assembly to achieve the goal set by them. The meeting, which followed a lavish lunch, was dubbed as an open forum to discuss the UN reform agenda, and many diplomats who attended the meeting asserted that G-4 could not claim two-thirds majority support needed for the passage of the proposed resolution expanding the council.

Diplomats attending the meeting termed it a “comprehensive review of the reform agenda” without committing support to the expansion proposal. The four countries put forward the proposal in a joint statement read out by German Ambassador to the UN Gunter Pleuger , who said in a statement that a failure to reach consensus should not become an excuse for postponing Security Council reforms.

However, G-4 declined to give the number of countries which support their proposal, noting instead that the so called “coffee club” which supports model B, which stipulates expansion of non-permanent and semi-permanent seats, had far less support. The member states supporting model B have called for a consensus on the reform asserting that “the expansion of the council without consensus would divide the world body and undermine its credibility.”

But the G-4 in their statement said: “It should also be recalled that the decision to expand the non-permanent category [of seats on the Security Council) in 1963 was made by a vote.”

While some G-4 diplomats made tall claims about the number of countries present — their estimates ranging from 120 to 150— independent observers put the number at 75 at best, considering that several other delegates, the General Assembly president, Jean Ping, and his staff were also there.

A total of 128 votes are required in the 191-member assembly for the passage of any measure to expand the council.