Kolkata, May 15 (IANS) Batting for inclusion of India in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a British minister Tuesday said it would be very difficult for the UN to keep the emerging Asian giant out of the UNSC.
“India is an emerging giant in world economy and politics. It is very difficult for the UN to hold India away from it,” British Minister of State at Foreign and Commonwealth Office Kim Howells said here.
“The UK wants India in the Security Council,” he said while inaugurating the British Council’s new lifestyle and diversity zone here Tuesday inside the Council’s library.
“Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had tried hard to democratise the UN by reforms so that only the victors of World War II did not dominate it,” he said.
“We have to strive (to democratise it),” Howell said hoping that present Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would take forward the process of reforms in the UN.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the organ of the United Nations charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, consisting of five permanent seats and 10 temporary seats. The permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Admitting that India has very difficult neighbours, Howell said it was gladdening to see that Pakistan was offering greater cooperation of late and the caretaker government in Bangladesh was taking steps to fight terrorism.
“We care deeply about Bangladesh and are glad to see Pakistan cooperating to take the heat out of Kashmir,” he said, expressing concerns about terrorism in the form of either the Maoists inside India or from outside.
Howell said Britain wanted to better its links with India, especially Kolkata.
“I am delighted to be here in the cultural capital of India, the land of Tagore and all of the Nobel Prize winners from India,” he said inaugurating the facility at British Council.
The new Lifestyle and Diversity zone of the British Council combines the fun and the serious, offering an extensive choice of more than 60 specialist and lifestyle magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers, new music CD and DVD collection, an improved borrowing system and a cafe managed by Cafe` Coffee Day Express.