India to recharge bid for UN Security Council seat
September 17th, 2010 - 7:52 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Sept 17 (IANS) India is set to accelerate its diplomatic effort for reform of the UN Security Council as External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna gears up to meet his counterparts from other G4 countries, including Japan, Brazil and Germany, and those of other multi-nation groupings to seek their support.
Krishna leaves for New York Saturday on a 10-day visit during which he will represent India at high-segment meetings of the 65th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and other associated events.
The G4 foreign ministers are expected to meet on the sidelines of the UNGA next week to review the progress in their campaign and rejig their strategy for accelerating the long-dragging reforms of the UN Security Council.
The meetings come at a hopeful moment for India as it readies to get elected to a non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for 2011-12 in October with an overwhelming majority. If all goes well for New Delhi, India will be in the Security Council for a two-year term as a non-permanent member from Jan 1, 2011 — the first time in 19 years it will get the prized seat.
With barely days to go before the UN General Assembly decides on India’s bid for a non-permanent seat Oct 1, Krishna will be networking extensively and address multi-nation groupings, including G-77 foreign ministers meeting on Sept 24, the SAARC foreign ministers’ gathering Sept 29, and the meetings of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and RIC (Russia, India and China).
In a positive development for India, some of the countries in the United for Consensus, informally called Coffee Club, who were opposed to the G4 bid, are now backing India’s claim for a permanent seat.
Many countries in the Coffee Club did not have problems with India’s candidature, but were hostile to their rivals in the G4 grouping. Pakistan opposed India’s bid, Mexico opposed Brazil’s candidature, and Italy was dead set against Brazil’s UN ambitions.
Now, many of the Coffee Club countries are backing India for a non-permanent seat in the Security Council, an indication that many of them will finally veer around to supporting India for a permanent seat as well.
- India confident of 150 votes in Security Council bid - Aug 16, 2010
- UN reforms being opposed: India - Oct 12, 2010
- G4 countries push for Security Council expansion - Feb 12, 2011
- India, Brazil, Germany, Japan demand UNSC change - Feb 12, 2011
- PM to leave for UN meet Sep 21 - Sep 20, 2011
- First time all IBSA, BRIC countries in UN Security Council - Oct 13, 2010
- India, G4 partners push hard for Security Council expansion (Lead) - Feb 12, 2011
- G-4 makes joint bid for UNSC expansion - Jan 27, 2012
- India, Germany to focus on UN reforms - Oct 11, 2010
- G4 to meet on UN reforms in New York - Sep 17, 2011
- Krishna likely to meet Khar, IBSA foreign ministers in US - Sep 14, 2011
- India backs modest expansion of UN Security Council - Feb 21, 2011
- Pakistan has resisted India's UN Council bid: Tharoor - Mar 26, 2010
- PM may meet Obama, Gilani for bilateral talks in New York - Sep 13, 2011
- UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrives in India - Apr 26, 2012
Tags: 19 years, bric brazil, candidature, coffee club, diplomatic effort, external affairs minister, foreign ministers, g4 countries, groupings, ibsa, krishna, ministers meeting, new delhi india, overwhelming majority, security council seat, sidelines, un general assembly, un security council, unga, united nations general assembly