India’s role in UNSC reform important: Burns

WASHINGTON - India’s expanding global role will naturally make it an important part of any future consideration of reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC), said US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Willaim J. Burns ahead of the first US-India Strategic Dialogue being held here this week.

Burns said that the Obama administration is looking forward “to quiet, systematic exchanges (with India) on other regional issues, such as the Middle East and Africa, where we can benefit from each other’s perspectives, and each look for ways to contribute to peace and security.”

Admitting the global architecture that has centered so far on trans-Atlantic structures, is under renovation.

“We need to adjust to the realities of 2010, not 1945 or 1989. New powers are emerging, especially in Asia. Globalization and sweeping domestic reforms have helped unleash extraordinary growth in China and India. More people have been lifted out of poverty in those two rising countries than at any other time in human history,” said Burns.

He highlighted the fact that mutual dependence has grown as global financial connections have spread.

“Power is more diffuse and challenges are more intertwined. The United States not only recognizes these new realities, especially in Asia, it seeks to build even stronger partnerships with emerging powers such as India, to adapt international architecture to support the roles their influence warrants, and to share responsibility for the common challenges of the 21st century,” Burn said. By Asif Ismail (ANI)