India, Brazil and South Africa are strong candidates to become permanent members of the United Nations Security Council as all three developing countries have stable democracies, the Brazilian Foreign Minister said on Wednesday.
Celso Amorim, who is on a visit here, told the Hindu newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday that the three countries would push to overhaul the Security Council.
”The three countries formed a trilateral commission in June this year, working together will be important for reforming the Security Council itself,” said Amorim.
With a population of more than one-billion, India has long sought a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, contending that the current members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — no longer represent today’s world order.
In June Brazil, South Africa and India agreed to set up a dialogue forum to further cooperation. South African President Thabo Mbeki’s state visit to New Delhi last week focussed on the trilateral forum which is aimed at boosting trade and pooling political muscle in talks with rich nations.
”It is the first case of systematically seeking the tripartite cooperation between countries of the south and I think it will be a very good example if it flourishes,” said Amorim.
He said India and Brazil wanted to cement the bond within the G-22 developing countries’ grouping that banded together at the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks last month to press the developed world to phase out their farm subsidies, which run at nearly one billion dollars a day.
He also said he had discussed the Iraq situation with Indian leaders.
”From what I know, the Saddam Hussein government could be accused of many things… but it was not a hotbed of terrorism,” said Amorim.
”Now, because of the lack of government, the lack of clear legitimate authority, apparently it is more prone to these things (terrorist acts) then it was before.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva issued an impassioned appeal on Tuesday for multilateralism in a speech to the UN General Assembly that implicitly criticised US policy on Iraq.
”A war can perhaps be won single-handedly. But peace — lasting peace — cannot be secured without the support of all,” Lula said.
”The tragedies that have befallen Iraq and the Middle East can only be overcome within a multilateral framework, one in which the UN is given a central role,” he added.
In his first address to the UN since his election as president in January, Lula pushed for reform of the world body — particularly the composition of the Security Council. – AFP
