G20 Summit: US President Biden backs India for permanent UN Security Council seat

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden held bilateral talks on September 8 ahead of the start of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

US President Joe Biden has backed India for a permanent seat on a "reformed" United Nations Security Council, a joint India-US statement said on September 8 following his bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Continuing to share the view that global governance must be more inclusive and representative, President Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member, and, in this context, welcomed once again India's candidature for the UNSC non-permanent seat in 2028-29," the joint statement said.

"The leaders once again underscored the need to strengthen and reform the multilateral system so it may better reflect contemporary realities and remain committed to a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council," it added.

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The US President's comments come hours after António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, said in New Delhi that the Security Council requires "deep, structural reform". When asked if he thought India could be a permanent member, Guterres said it was not for him to decide membership of the Council but the members themselves. However, he said it was for him to say reforms were needed to reflect today's reality.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members - China, France, Russia, UK, and US - who have veto power. There are a further 10 non-permanent members, five of which are elected every year by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term.

Interestingly, two of the permanent members - China and Russia - are not being represented by their heads of state at the G20 Leaders' Summit on September 9-10 in New Delhi.

Bilateral talks

The meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Biden took place at the former's residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi and comes close on the heels of Modi's own visit to the US in June.

"Our meeting was very productive. We were able to discuss numerous topics which will further economic and people-to-people linkages between India and USA. The friendship between our nations will continue to play a great role in furthering global good," Modi posted on X, formerly Twitter.

While the bilateral meeting took place just ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, Modi and Biden discussed the “importance of the Quad in supporting a free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific”, with joint statement saying that Modi looked forward to welcoming Biden to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit, which will be hosted by India in 2024. According to The Indian Express, India may invite all three leaders of the Quad group - Biden, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan - as guests for the 2024 Republic Day celebrations.

Biden also congratulated Modi and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for Chandrayaan-3's successful landing at the Moon's south pole and the launch of Aditya-L1 solar mission.

In their meeting, Modi and Biden also discussed:

>> a mid-term review of the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) this month to continue to drive momentum toward the next annual iCET review in early 2024, co-led by the National Security Advisors of both countries

>> the efforts of ISRO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to finalise a strategic framework for human space flight cooperation by the end of 2023

>> the need to build resilient global semi-conductor supply chains

>> their commitment to deepen and diversify the India-US Major Defence Partnership through expanded co-operation in new and emerging domains such as space and artificial intelligence and accelerated defence industrial collaboration

>> the importance of nuclear energy to meet climate, energy transition, and energy security needs. As per the joint statement, Modi and Biden welcomed greater consultations between India and US to expand opportunities for facilitating collaboration in nuclear energy

Also Read: US to help India lower energy transition cost through new investment platform

>> advancing the creation of investment platforms to lower the cost of capital and accelerate the deployment of greenfield renewable energy, battery storage, and emerging green technology projects in India.

"Towards this end, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the US Development Finance Corporation exchanged letters of intent to each provide up to $500 million to anchor a renewable infrastructure investment fund," the statement said.