"Our mission in New York (at the UN headquarters) is trying to break the long-standing deadlock over reform, and we will continue with our efforts to persuade Governments that India should have a permanent seat on the Security Council -- alongside Brazil, Japan and Germany, and that there should be representation from Africa," Minister for the Middle East Kim Howells told Labour lawmaker Ashok Kumar in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.
Leterme contended that there is a need for the United Nations Security Council to adapt to the realities of the 21st century as it requires representation that goes beyond the structures established in the 20th century.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque conveyed his country's position when he met External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly's session in New York on Saturday.
Days after the United States backed India's quest for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, Germany on Tuesday suggested that New Delhi will have to continue to work under the format of G-4 to achieve it, arguing that no country could alone get the required votes.
Shringla said India will continue to work towards the reformed United Nations during its stint as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Four out of five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) have supported India's candidature for a permanent seat in the top world body, the government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
If elected, it would be India's eighth term on the UN Security Council and this two-year tenure will start in January 2021.
Terming India a 'deserving candidate,' Russia on Monday backed its claim for a permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council reflecting present-day realities.
The last time India sat on the Council, the Soviet Union was still a country and the first US invasion of Iraq was a taste of things to come in the new world order.
Britain has backed India for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council to make the world body more credible and effective.
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.
India on Friday congratulated Pakistan on winning a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, saying it looks forward to working with its neighbour on a range of global issues.
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.
The proposal calls for two seats each for Africa and Asia, one for Latin American and Caribbean states and one for Western European and other states.
India, together with Japan, Brazil and Germany, nicknamed the Group of Four -- is lobbying for a permanent Security Council seat, and the quartet has circulated a revised draft proposal that would expand the body from 15 to 25 members.
President A P J Abdul on Friday made a strong pitch for India getting a permanent membership of an enlarged United Nations Security Council.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who kicked off his 4-day India visit in Bengaluru on Saturday, made a strong case for India's inclusion as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.It was unthinkable that India was not yet a permanent member of the UNSC, said Sarkozy, who is visiting India with his wife Carla Bruni.
The reaffirmation from the US comes in the backdrop of the maiden India US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue which was held on Tuesday.
Britain has pledged its full support to India in its bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
The rejuvenated effort came with Japan recently showing active interest again in the joint endeavour after remaining lukewarm for about a year on its participation in the G-4.
As India assumes the month-long presidency of the United Nations Security Council, the international community has "very high expectations" from it, New Delhi's envoy to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
India found support in Africa in becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. During Dr Manmohan Singh's meet with the leaders of the African Union in Addis Ababa, the voice of Africa was unanimous in India bagging a permanent seat.
India is one of the countries aiming for a seat on an expanded UNSC.
"The world sees India as a growing opportunity. I expect it to have more role in world affairs."
Backing India's bid for a permanent membership, United States has started reaching out to other Security Council members on the reform of the apex United Nations body but said it could not set a target date for expansion of the UNSC.
VP Ansari thanked Polish leadership for its support to India's bid for NSG membership,
She lamented that Africa despite being the largest continent in terms of number of the countries and India, which has has one-sixth of the world's population, still don't have permanent membership of the UNSC.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy made a strong pitch for India's inclusion as a permanent member of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, which he said needs to be expanded to make it more inclusive."Did you know that India... in 30 years time... the world's most populous nation, doesn't have a permanent seat on the Security Council?" said the French president, hosted by Columbia University as part of the World Leaders Forum.
Noting that the last reforms to the Security Council were made in the sixties, Ambassador of France to India Jerome Bonnafont said "if we want the Security Council to remain a legitimate place for handling peace and security crisis in the world, it is absolutely necessary to have India as well as couple of others as permanent members."
The United States should support India's bid for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat and work actively for the expansion of the top multilateral body, former American diplomat Karl Inderfurth said on Thursday."It is time for the US to publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and to work actively with India and others to accomplish the goal of expansion of the UNSC," he said.
Mauritius singled out India for being the fit candidate to become a permanent member while calling for expansion of the 15-member Council which currently has five permanent members -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- and ten non-permanent ones who are elected by the 192-member General Assembly for a two-year term.
During a meeting of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan at the foreign ministers-level on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, it was agreed by the four countries that such expansion was necessary to have more representation from the developing countries.
It is time to formally recognise on a more consistent and regular basis the reality of the emerging new world order, he said.
Jonah Blank, former journalist and now policy director for South Asia on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, believes the Bush administration should have expended its political capital on strongly supporting India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and being a catalyst in India securing this long-desired position in the world body, instead of the US-India civilian nuclear deal.
Seeking China's backing for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat for India, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday called on Beijing to 'review' its policies on UN reforms to 'welcome' its neighbour to the core group of the world body."Indeed, even on the complex issue of UN reforms, it is time for China to review previously held positions and welcome the presence of, in the Security Council, a nation with which it has much in common," Krishna said.
India will convey its views on major regional and global issues apart from strongly pitching for an expansion of the Security Council with its inclusion as a permanent member during the four-day visit of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in New Delhi on Thursday.
"The Australian government fully appreciates how central India is to our future," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said in a speech at the University of Western Australia, his alma mater, while making a strong push for closer ties in social, economic and defence sectors.
"India is not doing enough to become a permanent member of the Security Council. Instead of demanding for it, India should play a more participatory role in world affairs," Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff to the UN secretary general, told PTI in Mumbai
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