Statement to the Press by the President of the Security Council

This morning, the Security Council adopted a Note by the President concerning the improvement of the working methods of the Council. The Note is the product of intensive work on the part of the Security Council’s Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions over the past several months. Members of the Council have been actively engaged in these efforts to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the Council’s work as well as its interaction and dialogue with non-Council members, as part of the follow-up to the Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. Members of the Council have committed themselves to implementing the measures set out in the Note.

The Note contains, among others, the following measures:

- to reaffirm the Council’s commitment to increase recourse to open meetings;

- to better inform on its activities, through an oral briefing by the President of the Council on the monthly programme of work, briefings by the chairs of subsidiary bodies and publishing of the tentative monthly forecast of the Council’s programme of work on its website;

- to make the format of its meetings easier to understand;

- to make the schedules of meetings of subsidiary bodies available to the public, when appropriate;

- to informally consult with the broader UN membership, in particular interested Member States, when drafting resolutions, presidential statements and press statements;

- in line with the 2005 World Summit Outcome, to expand consultation and cooperation with regional and sub-regional organizations in relevant public and private Council meetings, when appropriate;

- to utilize “Arria-formula” meetings as a flexible and informal forum for enhancing deliberations; and

- to encourage more interactive discussion and debate at informal consultations.

The members of the Security Council will continue to consider ways to improve the working methods of the Council through the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions.