Joe Biden reiterates US support for India's permanent seat in UNSC, entry into NSG

US President Joe Biden has reiterated Americas support for indias permanent membership on a reformed United Nations Security Council and its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group during his first inperson bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White HousePresident Biden in his talks with Prime Minister Modi applauded Indias strong leadership during its UN Security Council Presidency in August 2021 according to the USIndia Joint Leaders Statement issued after their meeting in the White House on FridayIn this context President Biden also reiterated US support for Indias permanent membership on a reformed UN Security Council and for other countries who are important champions of multilateral cooperation and aspire to permanent seats on the UN Security Counciliquest it saidPresident Bidens support provides a big boost to New Delhis push for the reform of the powerful UN organ as India has been at the forefront of efforts at the United Nations to push for an urgent longpending reform of the Security Council emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent memberIndia in June asserted that the InterGovernmental Negotiations IGN on UN Security Council reforms can no longer be used as a smokescreen as the General Assembly decided to roll over the IGN work to the next UNGA session and agreed to include an amendment proposed by the G4 nations of Brazil Germany India and JapanAlso read Joe Biden Narendra Modi remember Mahatma Gandhi ahead of birth anniversaryAt present the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 nonpermanent member countries which are elected for a twoyear term by the General Assembly of the United NationsThe five permanent members are Russia the UK China France and the United States and these countries can veto any substantive resolution There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect the contemporary global realityDuring his meeting with Prime Minister Modi President Biden also reaffirmed US support for Indias entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group NSG the joint statement saidThe NSG is a 48member grouping which regulates global nuclear commerceEver since India applied for the membership of the NSG in May 2016 China has been insisting that only those countries which have signed the NonProliferation Treaty NPT should be allowed to enter the organisationIndia and Pakistan are not signatories of the NPT After Indias application Pakistan too has applied for the NSG membership in 2016China maintains that there would be no discussion on Indias entry into the NSG before reaching a specific plan on nonNPT members participation in the elite grouping as it declined to give a timeline to reach a consensus among member states on this issuePresident Bidens support to Indias permanent seat in the UNSC assumes significance as last month State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference that the US values working with India at the United Nations including in the context this month of the Security CouncilResponding to a question on whether the Biden administration thinks that India should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council Price said that the US supports building a consensus for a modest expansion of the Council for both permanent and nonpermanent members provided it does not diminish its effectiveness or its efficacy and does not alter or expand the vetoWe believe that a reformed Security Council that is representative that is effective and that is relevant is in the best interest of the United States and all of the UN member states Price had saidIn their talks on Friday Prime Minister Modi and President Biden also welcomed the extension of the Statement of Guiding Principles on Triangular Cooperation for Global Development to leverage the combined capacities of India and the US to address global development challenges around the world particularly in the IndoPacific and Africa the statement saidThey renewed their close relationship and charted a new course to advance the partnership between the worlds largest democracies They also affirmed a clear vision that will guide the USIndia relationship forward the statement addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever