MOSCOW: India will push for the democratisation of the United Nations' system while going ahead with its drive to build support to enter the Security Council as a permanent member along with other "G-4" countries like Germany, Japan and Brazil.

Senior officials accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday that as part of the campaign to gather support Dr. Singh would meet Romanian President Traian Basescu on Monday.

(Late on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister met Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmonov and the Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Several issues, including India's candidature for the Security Council, came up for discussion at these meetings.

(The External Affairs Ministry spokesman said on Sunday night that while Mr. Rakhmanov reiterated his clear support for India's entry into the Security Council, the Kazakh leader stressed that India was a strong candidate for membership).

Romania's importance stemmed from the fact that it currently heads the 21-member "East European group" and India is aware that these votes could be crucial in any vote on a framework resolution that the G-4 might introduce in the General Assembly.

The officials said that global opinion seemed to suggest that the United Nations should move from a situation of "more privilege to less privilege". India, for instance, had no problem if there was no veto at all and the U.N. moved in the direction of greater democratisation.

Pointing out that there were major obstacles in the path of Security Council reforms, the officials suggested it was possible that nothing may happen at all in the direction of changes in this important decision-making body.

In a bid to "de-hype" the bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, the officials repeatedly told correspondents that the Government was not trying to build up expectations on India getting a berth.

"Non-discrimination"

On the issue of the veto, they said that India upheld the principle of "non-discrimination", a point that the Government has made in Parliament as well. This principle, as of now, was intended to convey the meaning that India wanted the abolition of the veto or that India favoured additional permanent members being given the veto power.

However, from the tone and tenor of the comments being made by Indian officials and the proposals on the table, it is becoming increasingly clear that veto rights are not going to be extended to any new permanent members who might join the ranks of the Security Council.

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