PM pitches for India's place in emerging world order

Ahead of the G8 summit in Italy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made a vigorous pitch for reform of the UN Security Council and underlined that India will seek its due place in the emerging international order. He also contended that the present veto power system is outdated.

Ahead of the G8 summit in Italy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made a vigorous pitch for reform of the UN Security Council and underlined that India will seek its due place in the emerging international order.

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"The structure of United Nations Security Council must evolve to become true representative of the global community," the prime minister argued in an article he has written for 'The Vision of Emerging Powers - India'. It has been published in the compendium brought out by the G8 nations on the eve of its summit in Italy.

Contending that the present veto power system is outdated, the prime minister wrote: "The system of two-tiered membership, which gives a veto to the five permanent members i.e. the nations that emerged victorious after the Second World War, is clearly anachronistic."

"Germany and Japan, which have significantly larger economies than Britain and France, both permanent members, are excluded. China is the only developing country in the P-5 and it is there for historical reasons, not as a large and economically important developing country," he wrote.

"It is obvious that if the system was being designed today it would be very different," he said while critiquing the sluggish movement in the crucial area of reforms of international institutions.

Making a case for the inclusion of emerging and developing countries in the Security Council and global financial institutions, the prime minister outlined his vision of India's place in the international order.

"India, as the largest democracy in the world and an emerging economy that has achieved the ability to grow rapidly, remains deeply committed to multilateralism," Manmohan Singh said.

"It has been an active member in global institutions - the United Nations, Bretton Woods Institutions, World Trade Organisation, International Atomic Energy Agency and so on. It will continue to be so in the decades ahead, based on commitment to principles and values that define these institutions."

"India will seek its due place, play its destined role and share its assigned responsibility, giving voice to the hopes and aspirations of a billion people in South Asia," the prime minister underlined.

Manmohan Singh stressed that India will continue to strive for the UN reforms to make it more democratic and address a host of global issues, including international terrorism, piracy on the high seas, climate change, creating a new financial architecture and an early conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.