African countries should be better represented at the UN Security Council (UNSC), South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has told Sputnik Africa.
"The world has changed since 1948 and we've been arguing as South Africa for a long time about reform of the UNSC, and today we can see its failings, so it is absolutely imperative that the UNSC is reformed," Pandor said.
Her position coincides with that of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has repeatedly argued that UN Security Council reform is overdue, "given the persistent underrepresentation of developing countries."
According to Lavrov, a "whopping" seven representatives of the collective West participate in 15-member UNSC meetings, while Asian, African and Latin American countries have been chronically absent in the body for decades.
South Africa hosts the BRICS Ministerial Meeting on June 1 at which top diplomats from Russia, South Africa, China, Brazil and India are to focus on pressing international agenda issues and cooperation in leading multilateral forums.
Lavrov arrived in South Africa on Thursday and held talks with his counterpart from Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan - who is holding fringe meetings in the country -, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and South African Foreign Minister Pandor.
Thursday's ministerial meeting will be followed by an expanded meeting of the "Friends of BRICS" states on Friday, to which foreign ministers from 15 African countries and the Global South have been invited.
A number of other countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, including Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.