According to a joint statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, France reiterated its support for India in a reformed United Nations. Permanent members of the Security Council and New Delhi pledged to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

India has been at the forefront of the UN push for urgent long-pending Security Council reform, stressing that it deserves a seat at high-level UN meetings as a permanent member. Currently, the UN Security Council consists of 5 permanent members and ten non-permanent members, elected by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term.

The five permanent members are Russia, Britain, China, France and the United States, which can veto any substantive resolution. There is a growing need to increase the number of permanent members to reflect contemporary global realities.

On Wednesday, India and France agreed to maintain strong coordination within the G20 framework in a joint statement. France reaffirmed its firm support for India’s bid for permanent membership in the UN Security Council and membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India said it would continue to engage with NSG members to support an early decision on whether the country should join the organisation.

With 48 members, the NSG is an elite club of nations that, in addition to contributing to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, deals with the trade-in of nuclear technology and fissile materials. As one of the five nuclear-weapon states, China strongly opposes India’s bid to host the NSG, mainly because New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Since the NSG operates by consensus, its objections make it difficult for India to join the organisation.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron here on Wednesday. The two leaders discussed bilateral and global issues in detail and agreed on an ambitious agenda for the next phase of the India-France strategic partnership. Modi arrived on the final leg of his three-nation European tour from Denmark on Wednesday night for extensive talks with Macron, who was re-elected to the top job a week ago.