Krishna to attend high-level meeting on development in UNSC

UNITED NATIONS: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is expected to attend a high-level meeting on peace, security and development at the UN Security Council on February 11 during which he would also push for India's quest for a permanent seat in the top UN organ.

The meeting is being organised by the Brazilian delegation that holds the presidency of the Council for this month.

"We have received confirmation from minister of foreign affairs of several delegations," Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Permanent Representative of Brazil, told journalists yesterday.

She said Portugal, India, Germany, Colombia, Gabon and Bosnia have confirmed their participation.

"We would like to emphasize a theme that is very dear to developing countries," Viotti said.

"We would like to take this broader view on peace and security and explore the inter-linkages between security and development."

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota will preside over the meeting, which will be briefed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Sarah Cliffe, the Director for the World Development Report on Conflict, Security and Development at the World Bank.

"The idea," Viotti said, "is to take a more comprehensive approach to the issues of peace and security keeping in mind that many conflicts have an underlying cause that is sometimes related to issues of poverty, social inequalities and problems of youth and unemployment."

The Indian mission at the UN was not able to provide details of Krishna's trip but he is expected to push India's agenda for Security Council reform as countries get ready to negotiate on a text containing several options, which has been prepared by Afghanistan's envoy to the UN, Zahir Tanin, who is also the chair of the reform discussion.

Issues like how many new permanent seats should be added and who should get those seats in the Security Council, have been discussed for almost two decades.

Indian officials, however, have reiterated that ongoing "text based negotiations" are bound to produce results.

There are currently 15 members on the Security Council--five permanent (Britain, China, France, Russia, United States), which have veto power and 10 non-permanent members that are elected for a two year terms.