'India, Brazil, Germany, Japan should be permanent members of UNSC'

NEW YORK: UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for an expansion of the United Nations Security Council, backing India's bid for a permanent membership of the UN body, along with Brazil, Germany, and Japan.

He emphasised that Africa deserves a louder voice on the world stage.

In his opening remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Cleverly said, "I will summarize by saying that the challenges the world presents us are legion. But we do have the opportunity to make positive progress. We do have the opportunity to get the Sustainable Development Goals back on track."

"It is going to mean that we work with our traditional friends and allies, but it also means that we have to give voice to the emerging powers in the world. The UK has encouraged an expansion of the United Nations Security Council for example, we believe that India, Brazil, Germany, Japan should have permanent membership, and Africa really deserves a louder voice on the world stage," he added.

Notably, reforms in the global systems have been an issue continuously raised by India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at global fora.

During his concluding address at the G20 Leaders Summit in Delhi, PM Modi reiterated his stance of making global systems in accordance with the “realities of the present” and took the example of the United Nations Security Council.

Further, in his address at the Council on Foreign Relations, Cleverly spoke about his visit to Beijing. He said he spoke with the Chinese government about areas where the two nations "have deep, deep disagreements."

He spoke about China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, their failure to abide by the commitment to freely enter Hong Kong, and their "aggressive posture" across the Taiwan Strait. Cleverly said he engaged with them on some of the issues, which included economic recovery, after the conference, and how to take benefit from artificial intelligence.

The UK Foreign Minister said Russian President Vladimir Putin believed that he could outlast Ukraine and its friends around the world. However, he was wrong. He lauded the US for providing military assistance to Ukraine, calling it a "leading supplier of military aid" to Kyiv.

He noted that the support of the UK, US and other nations around the world has made a difference in giving the "Ukrainians a fighting chance at the beginning of this conflict."

"The US is the leading supplier of military aid to Ukraine and I pay tribute to your nation’s generosity. And the Ukrainians are making the most of their support. And I know sometimes there’s frustration with the pace of their counter-offensive, I’ve had military briefings, and whilst I don’t want to bore you with the details, the Russian occupying forces have spent a huge amount of time and effort fortifying the whole of that southern part of Ukraine, meaning that any advance would inevitably need to be both slow and methodical," Cleverly said.

"Russia has suffered many times more fatalities in combat in just over eighteen months than the Soviets did during their 10 years in Afghanistan. That level is unsustainable," he said, adding that the UK will continue to call on the international community to offer support to Ukraine.