India's stand in harmony with G-4: UNSC seat

India on Thursday reiterated that it can consider a seat in the UN Security Council’s permanent table without a veto in the beginning and said that the issue of veto power should not be used to hold back on the “urgently-needed” reform in the world body. This has been India’s position for almost last 10 years. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay Thursday said that India’s position is in sync with the position adopted by the G-4 (India, Germany, Brazil and Japan).

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had on Wednesday delivered a joint statement on behalf of the G-4 at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations on Council Reforms. In his speech, he said the new permanent members of the expanded UNSC would have the same responsibilities as the present five permanent members but “they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review.”