United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan began a visit to India Tuesday, where officials were expected to lobby for permanent Indian membership in an expanded U.N. Security Council. Annan, who arrived in New Delhi late Monday, was to meet the country's top leadership during his four-day visit - President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and leader of the opposition Lal Krishna Advani. India said the visit was taking place at a "critical juncture", especially since "India has been urging the need for reforms of the U.N. so that it reflects the contemporary realities and makes the U.N. more relevant and effective in discharge of its mandate", a statement from the ministry of external affairs said. India is also expected to lobby for a permanent seat in an expanded U.N. Security Council, officials said. Annan's visit coincides with that of premier Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, which is also keen on a UNSC permanent seat, along with Germany and Brazil. In a meeting last week between Natwar Singh and Annan on the sidelines of the Asian African summit in Jakarta, India discussed the U.N.'s "string of serious failures". Singh asked Annan "why the U.N. failed to inspire confidence today and why multilateralism failed to take precedence over unilateralism", a government statement said. --mor 1421 Local Time 1121 GMT
