United Nations, Jumada I 21, 1439, February 07, 2018, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has stressed the urgent need to move forward in the process of reforming the Security Council and developing its working methods, calling upon member states to interact creatively with the ideas put forward and to contribute to finding mechanisms that would enable the council to fulfill its duty to maintain international peace and security. This came in the speech of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia yesterday before the Security Council on the open debate on the working methods of the council and delivered by Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to the United Nations Ambassador Abdullah bin Yahya Al-Mualami. He said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia "is at the forefront of countries that believe that there is an urgent need to move forward in the process of reforming the Security Council, including the development of its working methods. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports the efforts of the Arab Group on the reform of the Security Council and the demand for permanent representation with full powers in the category of the permanent seats in the of any future reform of the council, and also the demand for proportional representation by the Arabs in the category of non-permanent seats." The Saudi official reviewed the Security Council's reform process since its launch in 1993 and stated that "the fact is that the majority of member states agree that there is a flaw in the work of the Security Council, which undermines its credibility and limits its ability to play an active role in the settlement of the conflict, as evident from the stalemate that dominates the council on many issues, such as the Palestinian issue and the Syrian crisis." The Kingdom appreciated the efforts made to improve the working methods and reform of the Security Council and the implementation of the letter known as Mission No. 507, which clarifies and codifies the working methods of the Council, he said. He added, "In this context, we would like to mention a number of things, including firstly, the importance of enhancing the role of the elected members of the Security Council in full participation in all the work of the Council in terms of drafting and making decisions. Secondly, the importance of adopting the commitment of conduct of action on demanding that all members of the Council not obstruct any resolution in the Council that would put an end to the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. Thirdly, the importance of strengthening consultation with the contributing countries to the peacekeeping forces and the UN police. Fourthly, with regard to the work of the sanctions committees, the kingdom considers the establishment of an ombudsman for the Security Council Committee on Al-Qaida and Daesh an important achievement and we call for filling this position as soon as possible." --SPA 22:39 LOCAL TIME 19:39 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w606062