The United States on Wednesday offered support for reforms to the United Nations institutions, including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel informed.
Responding to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s statement regarding India’s lack of a permanent seat at the UNSC, Vedant Patel said, “The President has spoken about this before in his remarks to the UN General Assembly and the Secretary has alluded to this as well.”
“We certainly support reforms to the UN institution, including the Security Council, to make it reflective of the 21st-century world that we live in. I don’t have any specifics to offer on what those steps are, but certainly, we recognise that there is a need for reform, but I will leave it at that for now,” he added.
Earlier in January this year, Musk called India not having a permanent seat in the UNSC as ‘absurd’ and said that nations with excess power don’t want to relinquish it.
“At some point, there needs to be a revision of the UN bodies. The problem is that those with excess power don’t want to give it up. India not having a permanent seat on the Security Council, despite being the most populous country on Earth, is absurd. Africa collectively should also have a permanent seat IMO,” the Tesla CEO wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
India has been seeking a permanent seat on the Security Council for a long time now to better represent the interests of the developing world. Notably, the country has gained momentum in its demand after it received support from the international community.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) originally comprises of 15 member states, including five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. The five permanent members have the power to veto a vote in the council.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its election manifesto titled “Sankalp Patra” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the country has vowed to pursue permanent membership for the country in the United Nations Security Council.
“We are committed to seeking permanent membership in the UN Security Council to elevate Bharat’s position in global decision-making,” the BJP promised in its Sankalp Patra.
