Friday, April 15 2005 08:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States last night (Apr 14, 2005) said it was supportive of the positive trends in India's global role but remained non-committal on backing New Delhi's claim for permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

"We have come a long way in a reasonably short period of time... this is clearly a relationship which has breadth and global dimensions," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh.

Asked whether the US supported Indian candidature for a permanent seat in an expanded Security Council, Rice said that Washington believed that UNSC reforms should be in the context of broader UN reforms and it was having discussions with a number of partners on the issue.

She said international organisations have to take into account India's "growing role" in the world.

"India is becoming a global power not because the US is making it one but because India is a democracy, that it is emerging to take on global responsibilities, it has the population, the reach and the increasing economic clout to do that," she said.

"The US wants to be supportive of what we see as a positive trend in India's global role because India is a democracy and that matters to us," she said.

Singh said India was working together with Brazil, Germany and Japan and many other countries on UN reforms including that of the Security Council.

"Be it any criteria you apply, India qualifies for a seat in the expanded Council as a permanent member and it is quite obvious that the structure created in 1945 doesn't represent what is happening in 2005," he said.

Responding to it, Rice said, "We are going to take a look at the structures.... not just the UN but all of the structures in the UN League need revitalising and reforms... India is a growing influence in international politics and in international organisations that has got to be accommodated."

Maintaining that Indo-US relations were at a "high point" and that they have come a long way in a reasonably short period of time, Rice said the two countries were having dialogues in the fields of energy and economy besides Defence cooperation.

Rice said the US was looking forward to the official visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July for talks with President George W Bush and other leaders.

Terming his discussions "fruitful" and "wide-ranging", Singh said that the two sides were looking at a "long-term relationship across-the-board".

He was confident that Indo-US ties would reach "new heights" in Bush's second term in office.

Singh said that the two countries were having discussions for cooperation in civilian nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and cleaner technologies.

The Minister said the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) process would be accelerated and that the two sides were looking at "wider horizons".

The two countries were also looking at cooperation in space, satellite fabrication and launch, he said.

He said Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was staying back in the US to carry forward the economic dialogue, issues relating to peaceful uses of nuclear energy and cooperation in scientific fields.