New York: Amid the loud international debate on Iran's nuclear programme and the ensuing discussion on UN reforms, it seems India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has been buried.
India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma met United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday.
They discussed Iran among other issues, but it was clear the focus had shifted away from India's bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
At the end of his four-day visit to India, Annan remained non-committal about New Delhi's continued pressure to make it to the Security Council, saying the five permanent members of the body - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - were deliberating on his two proposals for the panel's expansion.
"We are for comprehensive reform in the United Nations, reforms which are far-reaching, which will give the member states a firm voice on matters of collective concern and the reforms which are all-encompassing," Sharma said.
The US too had made its stand clear. US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton had reiterated the American stand that expansion of the Security Council was not a priority, except for Japan's bid.
"Given our experience last year in which discussion after discussion after discussion on the Security Council sucked the oxygen out of negotiations on other reforms, we think its better now to focus on the management program, reviews and just continue consultations as we are particularly with Japan on how to obtain a permanent seat for them," Bolton had decalred
While India is aiming for a larger role in the UN to raise its profile for future efforts and had contributed $2 mn for the launch of the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund, chances of India getting a permanent seat in the UNSC have receded.
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