Brazil, Germany, India and Japan renew UN bid

Brazil, Germany, India and Japan on Wednesday renewed their bid for permanent seats in an expanded UN Security Council, a long-sought goal without clear prospects.

The foreign ministers of the four nations made the joint call as they consulted virtually at the UN General Assembly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We commit to instill new life in the discussions on the reform of the Security Council," the four ministers said in a joint statement after their videoconference.

"The world of today is very different from what it was when the United Nations was created 75 years ago. There are more countries, more people, more challenges but also more solutions," they wrote.

"Only if we manage to reform the Security Council will we stop it from becoming obsolete."

The four nations launched a bid in 2005 to expand the permanent membership of the Security Council, whose setup reflects the victors of World War II.

Five nations -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- exercise vetoes on the world body's most powerful institution.

But the 15-year campaign has made little headway amid reluctance by the current Big Five and objections by individual countries on some of the contenders.

Germany is nonetheless currently on the Security Council as a non-permanent elected member without a veto and India will similarly join in January.