The UN General Assembly opened on Thursday inter-governmental negotiations on the reform of the Security Council.
Ambassadors from the world body's 192 member states huddled behind closed doors to give fresh start to a process that will eventually culminate in the restructuring of the UN's most powerful body.
While the envoys, on behalf of their home states, seek to clarify positions on the reform of the Security Council, no formal outcomes are expected at the end of the day-long plenary session.
In a letter sent to the ambassadors on Wednesday, General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann unveiled the sketch of a road map to guide the process of negotiations.
The talks will focus on the five issues: categories of membership, the question of the veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged council and working methods of the Security Council, and the relationship between the council and the General Assembly.
The President said that the first round of negotiations would be comprised of meetings on each of the five issues.
According to the timetable, the first such meeting will take place on March 4 to address the issue concerning membership categories. Other meetings will follow in March and April, with a second round of the negotiations slated for May.
The informal plenary was held in accordance with a resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the last day of its 62nd session in last September.
In the resolution, the assembly decided "to commence inter-governmental negotiations in (an) informal plenary of the assembly during its sixty-third session, but not later than 28 February 2009 ... on the question of equitable representation and (an) increase in the membership of the Security Council."
The talks will be "based on proposals by member states, in good faith, with mutual respect and in an open, inclusive and transparent manner ... seeking a solution that can garner the widest possible political acceptance by the membership," the resolution said.
At a meeting held in late January, d'Escoto announced that inter-governmental negotiations will commence on February 19.
The Security Council consists of 15 members -- five permanent veto-holding members, Russia, Britain, France, the United States and China, and 10 non permanent members elected on a regional and two-year basis. It has remained largely unchanged since its establishment in 1940s.