Without mentioning candidates or number of new permanent or non-permanent seats, the United States has said that it is prepared to discuss the issue of expansion of the UN Security Council.
However, the US said, it is not prepared to have discussions on the issue ahead of other "extremely important reforms" that have to take place in the world body.
The US is prepared "to discuss expansion of the Security Council, the criteria by which that should happen and the structure that such Security Council reform might take," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
"And we are having those discussions, and we look forward to exchange ideas with people as we do that," she said.
"But, we are not prepared to have the Security Council reform sprint out ahead of the other extremely important reforms that have to take place. Management reform, secretariat reform, peace building, issues about nonproliferation, issues about how we build a democracy fund," Rice said.
"These are core to what the UN is, and we are determined that this is going to go forward in a way that draws people's attention and people's commitment to those reform measures, too," she said.
Asked whether she has confidence in UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead the world body through this period, the US Secretary of State said, "Yes. We have worked very closely with him. I have confidence in him. We do want a full and complete investigation of anything that might be there."
"And I believe that is under way and we await the results. We await the results but we have worked well with Kofi Annan and expect to continue to do so," Rice said.
