India’s chances of a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) membership are not looking too bright at present, says former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and India should pursue the membership of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group instead.
In an exclusive interview to The Hindu , Mr. Rudd said there was no agreement on UNSC reform at all, that India could build on.
“What we sense in the U.N. is a complete impasse on the question of Security Council reform. It is at this stage difficult to see a way through. If you ask me to be honest about this, based on conversations with a whole number of member-states and what I see, to be blunt, at this stage there is no consensus for India to pursue,” Mr. Rudd told The Hindu in New Delhi.
G-4 grouping Mr. Rudd, who has been overseeing a full review of the United Nations processes as Chairman of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism and is the President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, also said that India’s chances might have been hampered because of the country’s decision to pursue the UNSC seat as part of the “G-4” grouping that includes Japan, Germany and Brazil as the group called “uniting for consensus” had built an opposition to the UNSC reforms process.
“There are a series of issues here, and rather than using elegant language to obfuscate, I think it would be very difficult to see where any consensus lies for India on this issue,” Mr. Rudd added, while refusing to confirm his own candidature for the world body’s top post. If Mr. Rudd were to run for UNSG, he would be the only serious male candidate in the race, with UNESCO chief Irina Bokova and UNDP chief Helen Clark among the front runners. When asked by The Hindu , Mr. Rudd said he believed “this time it will be an East European who will become Secretary-General,” indicating he felt that Ms. Clark, who overlapped as Prime Minister of New Zealand (until 2008) when Mr. Rudd was Prime Minister of Australia (2007-2010), wouldn’t win.
Significantly, the former Australian Prime Minister, who has often advocated closer ties between India and China, called for a strong push from India to apply for membership to the 21-member APEC group instead, calling the proposal “doable” this year when the APEC meets in November.
India positive At a conference he attended, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that India was “open to joining the [APEC] forum,” calling the economic grouping of Pacific rim countries an “important way station” for India, which had been kept out of regional economic trade groupings like APEC, TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), RCEP and others.
According to Mr. Rudd, the chief opposition to India being accepted in the trade groupings was from the U.S., which, he said, demanded more reforms from India and free trade commitments, and urged India to “seize this opportunity this year” by actively pursuing APEC membership at the summit in Peru in November 2016.
“I would say strike while the iron is hot. Peru is in the chair, and the Colombians are keen to join APEC too, so if the membership question is opened, the case for India and for Burma [Myanmar] immediately become apparent. I think the factors are positive and we may see the planets aligned,” Mr. Rudd explained, adding that India would benefit by joining various trade blocs in the region it has been cut out of so far.
