UK backs India's UNSC membership claim

Describing India as its "absolutely indispensable strategic partner", Britain has said it is strongly supporting New Delhi's claim for a permanent membership of the UN Security Council and its adequate representation in other international organizations.

Noting that India is re-emerging as a truly global player, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said "India has become such an important and central part of the global infrastructure that just about everything that Britain wants to achieve internationally requires us to work in partnership with India.

Addressing members of the Labour Friends of India here last evening, Beckett said: "we can't just discuss specifically Indian or British issues with our Indian counterparts - we need to be discussing the whole gamut of global issues. That is why we are such strong supporters of India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and its adequate representation in other international organizations."

The British Foreign Secretary, who is just back from India after a six-day visit, said "one of the strongest impressions I took away from my trip to India was one of a country that is today an absolutely indispensable strategic partner for Britain.

"And equally, I sensed a country that was willing to engage in real debate on the global agenda." She said Britain and India need to work together in many priority areas like the international trade negotiations, counter proliferation, migration and drugs.