Sarkozy backs Brazil's Security Council bid
Embassy of Brazil in London, Jan 08, 2010
French president Nicolas Sarkozy this week reiterated his support for Brazil's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Speaking at the opening of the 'New World New Capitalism' symposium in Paris on 7 January, also attended by Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim, Sarkozy asked "Who can think it's possible to solve the world's problems without Brazil, India or Africa?"
The Security Council currently consists of 15 countries, only 5 of which – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – have permanent seats: ten others hold temporary places for two-year periods, with five of them replaced each year. Brazil currently holds one of the temporary seats.
The United Kingdom is among the other countries to have called for Brazil's inclusion in a reformed Security Council. Speaking during a visit to São Paulo last year, Gordon Brown expressed the British government's "full support" for Brazil's bid.
In recent years Brazil has consistently argued not only that developing countries should have permanent seats in an enlarged UN Security Council but also that they should have a greater say in other important international decision-making bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
