Making a huge statement on Wednesday while speaking at the fifth edition of the Raisina Dialogue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that India should be a permanent member of United Nations Security Council. He said that there should be a reform in the UNSC, stating that the main problem with the council is the under-representation of the developing countries. He added that Russia is convinced that India is a new centre of economic might, financial power and political influence. Slamming the US, he said that the formation of G20 showed that it is not only the G7 who can take important geopolitical and diplomatic decisions in the current world order.

"We are convinced that the overriding trend of global development is the objective process of the formation of new centres of economic might, financial power and political influence, India is obviously one them," he said. We believe India should be permanent member of UN Security Council: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at Raisina Dialogue — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 15, 2020

Lavrov also spoke on length about China, emphasizing that Russia is not trying to contain anyone in the region including China. He said that the concept of Indo-Pacific has begun to contain China. "Why do you need to call Asian Pacific as Indo-Pacific? The answer is evident -- to exclude China. Terminology should be unifying, not divisive. Neither SCO nor BRICS is exclusionary," Lavrov said.

Hitting out at the US, he said: "Concept of Indo-Pacific initiated to contain China; its aim shouldn't be divisive. Initiators of Indo-Pacific told us it is more democratic than Asia Pacific; we don't think so. There should not be any effort to contain anyone; we support India's position. When we asked the initiators how Indo-Pacific is different from Asia Pacific, we were told it is more democratic. We don't think so. It is rather tricky. We have to be careful about the terminology which looks benign but is not."

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At present, there are five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US. China, a veto-wielding member of the P5, however, is yet to support India's push for a permanent seat in the UNSC the other four P5 members - France, Russia, the UK and the US - have expressed their support. India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st Century. India, Germany, Brazil and Japan formed a group called the G4 to press for their permanent membership of the UNSC as part of reforms of the United Nations.

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Foreign Ministers from 13 countries to attend Raisina Dialogue

Foreign ministers from 13 countries, including Russia, Iran and Australia, are attending the fifth edition of the Raisina Dialogue. The three-day event, co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), is also witnessing the participation of many deputy foreign ministers, former prime ministers, former presidents, national security advisors, military chiefs and other high-level policy-makers, scholars and officials. Over 180 delegates from 105 countries are taking part in this edition, themed '21@20: Navigating the Alpha Century'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the inauguration of the conference on Tuesday. The conference has 116 speakers. Besides, Externally Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the other foreign ministers participating in this year's conference are from Russia, Iran, Australia, Maldives, South Africa, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary, Rwanda and Tanzania. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and prime ministers of Sweden, Republic of Korea, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and Bhutan are also participating in the conference.

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What is Raisina Dialogue?

The Raisina Dialogue, as defined by ORF, is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters. The Dialogue is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of state, cabinet ministers and local government officials, as well as major private sector executives, members of the media and academics.

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