Australia favours India as permanent UNSC member

Australia today said it would like to see India as a permanent member of an expanded United Nations Security Council.

Australia on Wednesday said it would like to see India as a permanent member of an expanded United Nations Security Council.

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"I don't think it would be appropriate to exclude India as a permanent member of the Security Council," visiting Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh.

Observing that he saw a "reasonable chance" of expansion of the Security Council, Downer said Australia would also like Japan and Brazil as permanent members of UNSC.

"Finessing is required of the draft resolution mooted by the G-4 (comprising India, Brazil, Japan and Germany on expansion of the Security Council). If this is done, it will have a good chance of passage," he said.

Replying to questions on Indo-Australian relations, Downer said the outlook for Indian economy was "very promising" and that Australian businessmen were "greatly enthused".

He said Australia and India could become closer partners in information and communication technology as also in biotechnology.

"We would like to see scientific links with India developing more closely," he said.