Germany, India back each other for UNSG Permanent Seat
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk

NEW DELHI (India): India and Germany reached a deal on Wednesday to support each other's bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, ministers from the two countries said.

Visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who held talks here with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, said both countries hoped they would be able to get permanent seats in the course of broader reforms in the United Nations.

"Germany and India consider both countries to be natural candidates for a permanent seat on an enlarged Security Council and will support each other in this endeavour," Fischer said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Singh.

He said there was an "urgent need for an effective multilateral system" that would reflect the current realities of the world.

The Indian foreign minister echoed the views. "We will work together for reform of the UN. In today's world if the UN is bypassed or the doctrine of unilateralism takes precedence over multilateralism there is something wrong," Singh said.

On a permanent Security Council seat, he said: "If India and Germany work together we can achieve this and we hope to do it in a friendly manner."

The Indian minister said the international public opinion was in favour of "drastic (UN) reform".

Germany currently holds one of 10 rotating seats but like India and Japan is lobbying for a place with the five permanent members in reforms being demanded by some states which would expand the council to 24 or 26 nations and regional bodies.

First engagement Wednesday for Fischer, who arrived in New Delhi during the night, was with opposition leader and Hindu nationalist former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, diplomatic sources said.

During the meeting, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also dropped by, the sources said.

Fischer, who is also vice-chancellor of Germany, was due to leave for China later in the afternoon. He will also visit Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during his 10-day pan-Asian tour.

The minister is being accompanied by members of parliament and a business delegation -- primarily investors in renewable energy.●