india

Updated: Jun 26, 2019 12:28 IST

Fifty-five countries of the Asia-Pacific group, including Pakistan, have unanimously endorsed India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a two-year term.

India’s permanent representative at the UN Syed Akbaruddin thanked the countries for the massive support.

“A unanimous step. Asia-Pacific Group @UN unanimously endorses India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the Security Council for a 2-year term in 2021/22,” Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

Syed Akbaruddin’s tweet also included a video thanking these countries for endorsing India’s candidature.

“Asia-Pacific Group endorses India for Non-Permanent Seat of United Nations Security Council. 55 countries, 1 nominee - India for non-permanent seat of UN Security Council Term 2021-2022,” the video accompanying Akbaruddin’s tweet said.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Vietnam were among the countries which supported India.

The election for the five non-permanent members of the 15-nation UNSC for the 2021-22 term will be held around June next year. The 193-member General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term at UNSC every year.

Before this, India has been a non-permanent member of the UNSC for seven terms.

India is also pushing for the long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN Security Council as a permanent member.

(With agency inputs)