Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said the United Nations Security Council is “increasingly unable” or “sometimes unwilling” to respond to current security challenges, reported PTI. She made the statement while addressing a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers in Beijing.

Swaraj said there was a need to bring in reforms in the Security Council to respond to new security challenges in the world, stressing that reforms in the United Nations would be incomplete without reforms in the Security Council. She said the council needs to be representative of contemporary realities, and that this was the “most urgent task” on the UN agenda, ANI reported.

“Since 2008, the international community has carefully nurtured the ongoing Inter-Governmental Negotiations at the UN to take our discussions on UNSC reforms forward,” she said, adding that a majority of members have expressed their willingness to see these negotiations continue.

India, Brazil, Germany and Japan have been seeking expansion of the permanent and non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council to make it more representative and reflective of the changing global order.

Earlier at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Beijing, Swaraj had said terrorism was the enemy of basic human rights, and efforts should be made to identify states that encourage and finance terrorism – an apparent reference to Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by foreign ministers Wang Yi of China, Khawaja Muhammad Asif of Pakistan, Kairat Abdrakhmanov of Kazakhstan, Abdyldaev Erlan Bekeshovich of Kyrgyzstan, Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Sirodjidin Muhridinovich Aslov of Tajikistan and Abdulaziz Khafizovich Kamilov of Uzbekistan. Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Rashid Alimov also attended the meeting.