BRICS meet: India seeks support for United Nations Security Council reform

India once again stressed the need to reform the United Nations and called for expansion of the Security Council to include New Delhi as a permanent member and urged support from BRICS during a virtual meet held on Friday, September 4.

Addressing the BRICS Foreign Ministers' meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar emphasised on reforms in the UN to reflect contemporary global realities and the feelings of millions of people in the world, the MEA said in a statement. India, Japan, Germany, and Brazil (the G4) are eyeing a permanent seat at the UNSC, which currently has only five veto-wielding powers — United States, Russia, Britain, France, and China.

Jaishankar also called for reformed multilateralism including the restructuring of international bodies like the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund, World Health Organisation, etc.

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The EAM thanked his Russian counterpart for convening this meeting and highlighted that in the wake of grave challenges in economic, political, and social/health fields, BRICS has an important role to play. Jaishankar highlighted the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiated by India as a dynamic and mutually beneficial global economic engagement, covering five key pillars, including — economy, infrastructure, technology, demography, and demand, to help achieve rapid growth and development, the MEA said.

The leader also raised the issue of terrorism, the situation in Afghanistan and West Asia, and called for enhanced BRICS cooperation in countering terror. 

Moreover, Jaishankar assured BRICS partners that, as BRICS Chair in 2021, India will continue the work to strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation in all the three pillars viz. political and security, economic and trade, and people to people. The EAM indicated that our effort would be to consolidate intra-BRICS solidarity and provide a concrete institutional framework for the purpose, the MEA said.

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