Brown backs India’s bid for Security Council seat

The United Kingdom has announced its support for India’s membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), but said the road to the expansion faced several challenges.

“I am pleased to announce that we support the membership of India in the UNSC and reforms of the Security Council for the future,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday.

“We have agreed that it is in the interest of both our countries and the world that international institutions should be reformed for the modern era. They need to be equipped to deal with the challenges of the 21st century and to ensure that there are more representatives of the new global order,” he observed.

A joint statement, issued at the end of Mr. Brown’s two-day visit, noted the U.K.’s support for the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear agreement and an “appropriate” India-specific exemption in the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The two sides also agreed to promote cooperation in the civil nuclear sector and work towards a bilateral agreement.

Mr. Brown said that in his talks with Dr. Singh they found common ground to reform other multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“Essay in persuasion”


While expressing their resolve to reform the UNSC, the Prime Ministers underlined the challenges that the process faced. “We don’t underestimate the difficulties that lie in reforming global institutions. It is an essay in persuasion,” observed Dr. Singh.

Mr. Brown pointed out that there was general acceptance in the world community for reforming the UNSC, but the challenge lay in how change should be effected.

At the same time, both Prime Ministers said they were not pessimistic about reforming multilateral institutions. “It is in the interest of the world economy and politics that in an increasingly interdependent world, international institutions should be representative of contemporary realities. … We can’t deal with global problems unless India is at the global high table,” Dr. Singh said.

India and the U.K. signed, besides the joint statement, an agreement on cooperation in the scientific arena.

Mr. Brown was hopeful that companies from both countries would finalise business worth £10 billion in the near future.