Britain, India push for UN Security Council reform

AFP
January 21, 2008
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ip4q4_RhV8f8oggZkF-ALXCtL6RQ


NEW DELHI (AFP) — Britain and India made their case for reform of the United Nations Security Council, arguing its credibility was at stake if it did not bring new players onto the world stage.

Speaking after talks in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and British premier Gordon Brown both called for India to have a seat at the UN's top table because of its growing economic clout.

Brown also said he hoped to see deals worth 10 billion pounds (19 billion dollars) signed in the coming months.

I think that there is a broad agreement that international institutions, if they are to be credible, cannot ignore countries like India and China, Singh said, saying both were giving a major stimulus to the world economy.

You cannot deal with global problems and global concerns if countries like India are not on the high table.

Brown, who earlier Monday sketched out his vision for reform of world bodies, including the UN, World Bank, G8 and the International Monetary Fund, agreed.

A country of one billion people, the biggest democracy in the world and one of the world's fastest growing economies... should assume its vital place in the deliberations of the world including membership of the UN Security Council, he said.

India has been campaigning for a seat in an expanded UN Securty Council joining the G4 group of nations -- Japan, Germany and Brazil to lobby for a permanent position.

Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States are the current veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council members.

Brown earlier told business leaders the changes should be inspired by the post-war visionaries who set up the United Nations and other bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The new world order should be more representative of what he called the biggest shift in the balance of economic power in the world in two centuries -- the Asian economic boom of countries like India, he said.

He added: We can and must do more to make our global institutions more representative. I support changes to the IMF, World Bank and the G8 that reflect the rise of India and Asia.

Brown arrived in India from China on Sunday. Both countries are among the world's fastest growing economies and like many European countries, Britain is keen to court them to boost lucrative trade ties and other links.

Brown said trade between India and Britain had increased by 100 percent over the last five years.

That is now increasing by 20 percent every year and I am delighted that we have been able to reach agreements in areas that will facilitate greater trade and greater cooperation between the businesses of both countries, Brown said.

It is my hope that 10 billion pounds worth of commercial deals ... now under negotiation and discussed over the past few days can be signed in the coming months to the benefit of both economies. 

Brown said he and Singh had useful discussions on climate change and agreed on ways to make Britain and India high growth low carbon economies.

Earlier Brown had outlined plans for making the World Bank an environmental bank to tackle climate change and more proactive work by the IMF to spot and intervene in financial crises like that affecting Britain's Northern Rock bank.

And he also called for a new standby civilian force to go into failed states under the auspices of the UN to work in tandem with international peacekeepers.

He also stressed that Britain -- the former colonial power in India until 1947 -- was no longer the dominant partner.

Ours is a strategic partnership of equals. A confident, modern 21st century India and a confident modern 21st century Britain.