Montreux: French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said today that it was a "scandal" that Africa
was not given a permanent seat on the UN Security Council as
he outlined his aims for France`s presidency of the G20 and G8
nations.
Sarkozy also supported places for India, South America
and economic powers Japan and Germany on the UN`s powerful
decision making body, and vowed to begin tackling reform of
the international monetary system.
"We are in the 21st century, we are no longer in the 20th
century," Sarkozy said, outlining the need for major changes
to international political and economic governance at the
opening of the 13th summit of francophone nations.
Sarkozy told the 37 other heads of state and government
that he wanted to deal with three major issues when France
takes over the helm of the G20 group of rich and emerging
nations on November 12, and the Group of Eight industrialised
nations next year.
They included a multilateral approach to the monetary
system, volatile commodity prices and transparency in oil
markets, as well as broadening the UN Security Council to
developing nations and other economic powers.
The French leader questioned whether it was normal that
there was "no permanent member of the Security Council from
Africa."
"One billion inhabitants, in 30 years two billion
inhabitants who have no permanent representation -- it`s a
scandal," he exclaimed, also underlining the legitimacy of a
place for India as one of the world`s most populous nations.
PTI
