Lanka to back India for UNSC seat

Colombo will support India's candidature for a permanent seat in the expanded United Nations Security Council, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Tuesday.

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Addressing the 59th general assembly session of the United Nations, Kumaratunga said four countries -- Brazil, Germany, India and Japan -- will announce their participation in a pact that will enable them to collectively put forward their respective candidatures for a permanent seat in the expanded Security Council.

"Sri Lanka supports their candidatures as each one of them complies with one or more of the objective criteria applicable to the expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council," Kumaratunga said.

She noted that the present composition of the council does not reflect the current geopolitical realities. Reform, she said, must be comprehensive and should not be confined to the question of enlargement of the council alone.

"However, we share the concern over the lack of progress on the question of equitable regional representation and the increase in the membership of the council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories," the Sri Lankan president said.

Kumaratunga said Sri Lanka will also wish to see a consensus emerging on the permanent representation from the African continent in the Security Council.

"Africa must be included when a final determination is reached on the future composition of the SC," she said.