India will be trying to give a strong push to the need for UN Security Council (UNSC) reforms and thus a seat for itself on the Council high table of permanent members during the three-day visit of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to this country beginning April 26.
Appropriately enough, Mr Ban in remarks connected to the upcoming visit said in New York on Tuesday that he hoped the process of UN reforms will be accelerated to meet the expectations of countries like India.
New Delhi, however, knows that despite the concerted efforts it has been making for a permanent seat on the UNSC, there is many a slip between the cup and slip. So for now, “cautiously optimistic” is how official sources choose to describe India’s bid for permanent membership.
Sources here are also unwilling to put a date by which India can hope to sit on the high table. For now, India is in its second and final year as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation council.
India put forth its strong views on UN reforms and expansion of the UNSC during the eighth round of meetings under the “Intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation and increase in the membership of the Security Council” held earlier this month.
Participating in the negotiations, India’s permanent representative to the UN, ambassador Hardeep Puri, emphasised the need for urgent reforms and the need to expand the UNSC to 25-26 members.
“Early reform of the council must be pursued with renewed vigour and urgently enacted,” Mr Puri said during the negotiations while warning that any delay would be at the international community’s “own peril.”
Sources here note that the mere fact that India was able to get these negotiations started was in itself “a big step”. They further said, “We’ve had several rounds of negotiations since then....early last year we also put in further effort when we talked about the G-4 effort...”
Stating that India is “keenly pushing in that direction (of UN reforms), sources further said, “right now we see some positive movement, the inter-governmental negotiations are being held.” And yet, New Delhi is also keenly aware that the “spoilers are always there.”