UN REFORM DEMARCHE DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 003668 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2016 TAGS: PREL AMGT AORC UNGA UNGA IN SUBJECT: UN REFORM DEMARCHE DELIVERED REF: STATE 83920 Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) PolCouns delivered reftel demarche expressing concern about the NAM line on UN reform to MEA Joint Secretary (UN/Political) Sanjiv Arora on May 25, hours before his departure for Kuala Lumpur. Arora was familiar with the issues, having covered some of the same ground (he said) in May 10 and May 11 conversations with IO PDAS Jim Warlick. Arora agreed that the "emotional" atmosphere of the recent G-77 votes was not helpful to our shared UN reform objectives, and seemed receptive to our plea for avoiding further polarization at the NAM Ministerial. Arora insisted that his UN Mission had tried to be helpful during the April 28 and May 8 debates, but acknowledged that "the dynamics of UN voting being what they are it is not always possible to stem the tide of events." Arora said he "took full note" of our demarche and would share our concerns with head of delegation (and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs) Anand Sharma. ¶2. (U) The Delhi press on May 25 took note of Sharma's leadership of the Indian NAM delegation, and speculated that his major focus would be building on India's successful campaign for the UN Human Rights Council to deepen support for India's UNSC aspirations. The MEA-sourced articles suggested that the NAM "is slowly emerging as a power bloc in the UN with 114 member nations." Interestingly, the same MEA briefing produced speculative stories that the GOI had decided not to campaign for an (unnamed) Indian candidate for the UNSYG job in order to focus GOI energies on the quest for permanent Security Council membership. BLAKE