New Zealand FM pledges to keep up pressure for UN reform

Foreign Minister Murray McCully is to make a final push for United Nations reform in New York in the final days of New Zealand's two-year stint on the Security Council.

McCully said Monday that he would make his final visit to New York this week for UN Security Council meetings.

"This visit is about ensuring that New Zealand is well positioned to continue pushing for top-level UN reform and other issues that matter to small states as we transition off the Security Council," McCully said in a statement.

"While New Zealand's tenure on the council is drawing to a close, many of the issues we have championed during our term will continue to be a focus for our foreign policy effort in the coming years," said McCully.

"We are focused on working right up to the last day and while in New York I will participate in the quarterly open debate on the Middle East, which will include a briefing from outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and a ministerial-level debate on non-proliferation hosted by the new foreign minister of Spain."

He would also meet with incoming UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of UN peacekeeping operations, Hervé Ladsous.

(APD)