Thaindian News

Sanya (China), April 14 (IANS) China and Russia Thursday joined fellow leaders of the five fastest growing economic powers in calling for comprehensive UN reforms and supported the “aspirations” of India, Brazil and South Africa for a permanent place in the Security Council.

The two permanent UNSC members - China and Russia - in a joint statement of the BRICS grouping, said they “support their (India, Brazil and South Africa) aspiration to play a greater role in the UN”.

But does this translate into support for their bids for a permanent UNSC seat?

“It is an endorsement of our views on candidature and UN reforms,” secretary, economic relations, in the ministry of external affairs Manbir Singh said when asked if it signalled backing for India’s bid.

“This is a consensus statement. You have to study this. You have to have your own conclusions for that. This (joint) statement is satisfactory as far as we are concerned,” Manbir Singh told Indian journalists later.

India, Brazil and South Africa are in the Security Council but as non-permanent members for a period of two years after their election in January. They are seeking more permanent representation in view of their growing global influence.

The BRICS countries together represent more than 40 percent of the world’s population and 20 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The fastest emerging economies are projected to contribute 48 percent to the global economy in the next decade.

“We express our strong commitment to multilateral diplomacy with the United Nations playing the central role in dealing with global challenges and threats,” said the joint statement issued after a summit in the Chinese coastal city of Sanya.

The statement, also called the Sanya declaration, was signed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and presidents Hu Jintao of China, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma.

It reaffirmed “the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council to make it more effective, efficient and representative, so that it can deal with today’s global challenges more successfully”.

“China and Russia reiterate the importance they attach to the status of India, Brazil and South Africa in international affairs, and understand and support their aspiration to play a greater role in the UN.”

Brazil’s Rousseff told reporters in a joint address to the media that the reform of the United Nations and its Security Council was “essential”.

“It is just impossible that we should still remain attached to institutional arrangements that were built in the post-war period,” she said.

South Africa’s Zuma concurred. “We agreed on the need for reform of the United Nations Security Council system to make it more representative and effective.”

The statement on UN reforms is significant because Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hailong in an April 2 address to the media in Beijing said the issue was not on the agenda of the summit.

“Reform of UNSC is not on the set agenda of the meeting. BRICs is not an appropriate forum to discuss it as the reform process concerns all UN members,” Wu said.

Sources said that it took India, Brazil and South Africa some diplomatic efforts to convince the other two members to discuss the issue, particularly the UNSC expansion.

“This is significant because the BRICS summits had earlier talked about UN reforms not the expansion of the Security Council in particular,” a source privy to the development said.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)