India is hopeful that its election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for two years will help it re-affirm its credentials to be a permanent member.

“Our presence on the security council and our performance in the next two years will be a good measure of the value that India can bring to the UNSC by increasing the representativeness of the council and building bridges... It will help the process of making the council better representative of contemporary realities,” said Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, at a press conference on Thursday.

Member States elected India to the non-permanent seat of the Security Council for the term 2021-22 (two years) with 184 out of the 192 valid votes polled in its favour. This will be India’s eighth stint as a non-permanent member at the UNSC.

Interestingly, the last time India got elected to the seat in 2011-12, its margin of victory was wider as 188 out of 190 valid votes were polled in its favour.

“India was elected unopposed as we were the sole candidate for the Asia-Pacific seat. However this was made possible because Afghanistan had withdrawn in our favour in 2013 for which we thank the Government of Afghanistan,” said Swarup.

India will work with all member countries of the UN Security Council to promote global peace security, resilience and equity, as a non-permanent member of the council, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Deeply grateful for the overwhelming support shown by the global community for India’s membership of the @UN Security Council,” Modi tweeted on Thursday.

India has been making a bid for permanent membership of UNSC for long. Its bid is now backed by four of the five permanent members — France, Russia, the UK and the US. China, however, is continuing to veto the attempt.

India’s priorities at the UNSC will be to seek responsible and inclusive solutions for result-oriented action at the Security Council for an effective response to international terrorism, reformed multilateralism to reflect contemporary realities, a comprehensive approach to peace and security, guided by dialogue, mutual respect, commitment to international law by also helping streamline UN Peacekeeping and using technology with a human touch.

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