Friday, May 20 2005 12:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: A decision on expanding the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) cannot be a unanimous one because in that case no decision would emerge, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has said.

"The decision on expansion cannot be unanimous because in that case no outcome would emerge on any issue," Saran told reporters yesterday (May 19, 2005).

Saran, who met American officials in the context of forthcoming visits to Washington by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "India would be quite satisfied with decisions by two-thirds majority at the UN."

He said that India did not have a "unifocal approach, looking solely at permanent membership". "We are looking at this in the broader context of reform of the UN," Saran said.

The Foreign Secretary said he discussed the whole gamut of UN reform with American officials.

"We are looking at a fairly broad range of reforms. We have had an initial exchange of views (with the US) on some of these issues."

Making a strong case for India's membership to the Council, Saran pointed out that the country has a longstanding record at the UN in terms of peacekeeping and a very dynamic economy.

"We believe we can bring our capabilities to bear in terms of the role the UN can play," he said.

The Foreign Secretary said the US had not really given out what its own view was with regard of the Security Council, adding, "Its main concern has been to make the UN much more effective."

American officials had not conveyed to him what their position was likely to be on the right of veto for the new Permanent Members of the Council, Saran said.

Foreign Secretary also cautioned against going by media reports on the US position, adding it was sending Shirin Tahir-Kheli, senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on UN reform, to New Delhi to discuss the issue in depth.

Saran, who also held talks on bilateral, multilateral and regional issues with US officials, including Undersecretary for global affairs Paula Dobriansky and Undersecretary of State Nick Burns, said he was "highly satisfied" with the discussions.

He said the Kelkar report, which looked forward to a major programme of privatisation of Defence production in India, opened up many opportunities for Indo-US cooperation, including outsourcing of components and joint production.

Speaking on regional issues, he pointed out that progress in the Indo-Pakistan dialogue would depend on the ability and willingness of Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism.

On civilian nuclear cooperation with America, he pointed out that there were certain barriers, which would have to be removed.

"That is quite apparent. As we go along taking this cooperation forward those are elements we will have to deal with in our negotiations," he said.

He also denied that the US was putting pressure on India not to cooperate in Iran in the energy sector. It was "simply not true", Saran said.