Saturday, May 27 2006 10:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Pointing out that the international institutional infrastructure of the post second world war era does not represent the reality of 2006, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has questioned the legitimacy of the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council in the current scheme of things.

"A Security Council which has France as a permanent member, but not Germany; Britain, but not Japan; China, but not India to say nothing about of absence of proper from Latin America or Africa cannot be legitimate in the modern world" Blair told students of Georgetown University here yesterday (May 26, 2006).

"I used to think that this problem was intractable. The competing interests are so strong. But I am now sure that we need reform. If necessary, let us agree of some form of interim change that can be a bridge to a future settlement. But we need to get it done" the British prime Minister said in response to a question.

Asked to comment specifically on Blair's call for India to be a part of the permanent membership of the Security Council, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that while discussions were going on a number of aspects related to the United Nations there was no change in the current American policyof pushing only for Japan at the present time.

"There are a number of different plans out there for Security Council reform. This was a hot topic just toward the end of last year. It's still a topic about which we have conversations with India, with Japan, with other countries that are interested in gaining a seat on the Security Council" he said.

"At this point, the only country for which we have come out in favor of a Security Council seat is Japan. And there's, at this point, no change to that" he added.