France bats for India, others as permanent members of United Nations Security Council

New Delhi: India is among the countries that are absolutely needed as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, France has said. France’s permanent member to the United Nations said while interacting with mediapersons that India and nations like Germany, Brazil and Japan are absolutely needed as permanent members of a reformed and enlarged UN Security Council to better reflect contemporary realities. Francois Delattre, France’s UN representative, added that addition of these key members to the UN high-table is among France’s “strategic” priorities. He said that France and Germany have strong policy to work together towards enlargement of the Security Council and to succeed in terms of the negotiations that should lead to the enlargement of the Security Council which is considered as absolutely needed to better reflect the world as it is, Delattre told reporters. Delattre was speaking alongside German envoy to the UN Christoph Heusgen at the end of Germany’s Presidency of the Council for April. He stressed that France considers Germany, Japan, India, Brazil and a fair representation of Africa in particular are absolutely needed at the table to get towards a fairer representation of the Security Council. He said, “This is for us a matter of priority.” India is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for the long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. While speaking on equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, had earlier said that more than 90 per cent of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter.