New Delhi, September 23: India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has received support from the four Visegrad Group (V4) countries — Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The development came after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held the first meeting with the foreign ministers of the four countries on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Following the meeting, Jaishankar said India and the V4 countries had agreed to deepen cooperation in political, economic, technological, defence and people-to-people ties. “It was, in a sense, a new historic occasion,” Jaishankar said, describing the meeting as “very productive”. He said the countries had agreed to hold annual meetings of their foreign ministers and create an annual business forum.
The five countries will also work together in areas including technology and innovation, space, connectivity, research and education, as well as cultural and people-to-people ties. Jaishankar also said they would work to strengthen defence cooperation.
In a post on X, Jaishankar said the meeting had also focused on closer political and economic cooperation and support for multilateralism. Discussions included major global issues such as the Ukraine conflict and developments in the Gulf.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar, who convened the meeting, said the four V4 countries supported India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
“We all agree, the four countries, that India, as a part of the Global South, an upcoming superpower in the Indo-Pacific region, must be at the table as a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” Blanar said. India has repeatedly called for the expansion of the UNSC to make it more representative of the current global order, with greater participation from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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