India, three others launch joint bid for UNSC seats

India, Japan, Germany and Brazil launched a joint bid for UNSC seats, reports S Rajagopalan.

India, teaming up with Japan, Germany and Brazil, launched here on Tuesday a joint bid for permanent seats in an expanded UN Security Council. Leaders of the four nations have vowed to work together and support each other’s candidature.

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"The Security Council must reflect the realities of the international community in the 21st century. It must be representative, legitimate and effective", they said in a joint statement adopted at a meeting held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer held a strategy session on how best to put their joint project on the fast track.

Singh also had a separate meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at which he put forth India’s case for comprehensive reforms of the UN system, including the Security Council.

He used the occasion to reject one of the proposals being considered by a panel appointed by Annan to go into the reforms issue – creating a new layer of eight semi-permanent members serving for five-year terms.