President Zelenskyy's telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi came hours after India abstained on a UN Security Council resolution by the United States that 'deplores in the strongest terms' Russia's 'aggression' against Ukraine.
"We have a strong view that there should be Security Council reform of the United Nations, that the Security Council should reflect the modern world, which is why we've suggested that both India and Japan should become permanent members of a reformed United Nations Security Council," the Australian foreign minister said.
Declaring that they consider the avoidance of war between Nuclear-Weapon States and the reduction of strategic risks as their foremost responsibilities, the leaders of the five countries in a joint statement said, "we affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."
Britain has backed India for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council to make the world body more credible and effective.
The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Libya and expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
"We deeply appreciate the fact that President Obama made that declaration of support for India's candidature as a Permanent Member of the Security Council and subsequently to that we have had some useful discussion with the State Department," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told media persons at a press conference in Washington.
Boosting trade and simplifying visa regime, apart from security and defence cooperation, were among the key bilateral issues. The two leaders also discussed regional and international matters of mutual interest.
Lisa Curtis, the head of conservative Heritage Foundation's South Asia Program analyses the Obama visit to India in conversation with Aziz Haniffa.
BREAKING NEWS: United States President Barack Obama speaks to PTI on his visit to India.
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the "heinous and cowardly" murder of British humanitarian aid worker David Haines by the Islamic State terror group, saying the outfit must be defeated and violence it adopts "stamped out."
"This nuclear fuel is definitely for the development of Iran and expansion of peace in the world," Ahmadinejad said.
Iran blamed America for the cancellation saying they had delayed the issuance of visas to the crew of the special plane that would have carried Ahmedinejad to New York for the meeting.
After a gap of 19 years, India was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, a position which would help it push more aggressively for the reform of the world body's top organ. India secured an emphatic win, with 187 of the 191 member states in the General Assembly backing its candidature and one member state abstaining from the vote.
Contending that the United Nations Security Council should reflect contemporary realities, India on Wednesday sought 'urgent reform' of the powerful UN body to effectively meet emerging global challenges.
Currently, the non-permanent members serve for two years and are not eligible for re-election immediately after finishing their term.
Addressing a press conference shortly after being sworn in as the eighth secretary general on Thursday, he also did not agree with his predecessor Kofi Annan's criticism of the US for its "go-it-alone" diplomacy at the cost of multilateralism.
India and Brazil on Wednesday called for urgent progress in reforms of the UN Security Council, as they agreed to scale up bilateral ties and deepen cooperation in international fora.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the deadly Israeli attack on Gaza, with India expressing hope that Israel and Palestine will pay heed to the Council's message that the two should exercise restraint and violence must stop.
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Oil rich Venezuela, which has been lobbying for the non-permanent UN Security Council seat for a long time, distributing huge amounts of aid among African, Asian and Caribbean nations. But it is vehemently opposed by the United States.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has made a strong case for reform of the United Nations Security Council, emphasising that it should be expanded to include nations willing to share responsibility of combating global threats like terrorism and piracy and help in maintaining security.
"The Security Council underlines the need to bring the perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice," the statement said.
The two leaders reaffirmed that the United States and India 'will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee'.
To resist external pressure, it could use India's inherent assets and try and make democracy stronger by giving more space to human rights and minority rights, advises Aakar Patel.
Sharma was confident that New Delhi would occupy its rightful place on the UNSC.
As it has done in the past, Beijing put a technical hold on the proposal just as the deadline was about to end.
Observing that Iran has made a "serious miscalculation" by paving the way for resumption of uranium enrichment, the United States has said that there was not much of an option than referring Tehran to the United Nations Security Council.
The US hopes India will "reconsider" its decision to ban wheat exports, with Washington "encouraging" countries not to restrict exports as that will exacerbate food shortages, amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine. India, the world's second-biggest wheat producer, has banned wheat exports in a bid to check high domestic prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by scorching heat waves. The decision would help control retail prices of wheat and wheat flour, which have risen by an average 14-20 per cent in the last one year, besides meeting the foodgrain requirement of neighbouring and vulnerable countries.
China will always try to set the agenda for negotiations and tries through such means to determine the direction of talks, and to avoid discussing subjects that may paint it into a corner or compel the Chinese negotiator to disclose their position prematurely.
Pakistan's Islamic alliance condemned the decision by the referral of Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council.
The United Nations Security Council has asked nations not to pay ransom to terrorists in incidents of kidnapping, saying such funds are used by terror groups to support recruitment efforts and carry out attacks.
Britain has proposed that a meeting of the UNSC be convened during next month's high-level summit to discuss on punishing those who incite terrorism, with each nation's leader sitting around the council table, diplomats said.
The ministers, including Krishna, also reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and to increased participation of developing countries in the decision-making bodies of multilateral organizations and institutions.
He said G-4, the group comprising Germany, Japan, Brazil and India, should be credited with putting forward the UNSC reforms, including expansion of the security council, on agenda of the UN and it could not be reversed.
India has always provided very strong support to minority communities in Afghanistan, particularly Sikhs and Hindus, and it is an important part of New Delhi's effort to evacuate those Afghan nationals who want to leave the war-ravaged country, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said.
India has demanded that the principle of "protection of civilians" must be applied in a uniform manner to all parties to a conflict, pointing out that the UNSC failure to enforce accountability of armed groups has served to exacerbate the situation in several instances.
With regard to where relations between New Delhi and Beijing stand, the Union minister said that he does not have a definite answer to offer at "this moment".
