UNSC reforms top priority: US

The US today said it will work diligently and forcefully to push for reform of the UN security Council as White House reaffirmed its support for India's quest for permanent seat in the top world body.

"The UN no longer reflects some of the realities of today. And therefore, we'll continue to work on that," Mike Hammer, spokesperson of the National Security Council, White House, told Washington-based foreign journalists here.

Reforming the Security Council, he said, is one of the top foreign policy agenda of the Obama Administration.

"We are looking to have UN Security Council reform.  We have, as it was made clear, the (US) President announced in our visit in India our support for India in the UN Security Council," he said.

At the same time he acknowledged that such a reform would take time.

"We also recognise that these reforms take considerable effort and time. And that's something that obviously (US) Ambassador (to the UN, Susan) Rice will be working on very diligently and forcefully over the coming months," he said.

"We need to just give it time to realise that the world has evolved," said Hammer, the outgoing spokesperson of the National Security Council.

Hammer said the US is working very hard to recognise emerging powers around the globe.

"And to that specifically, I'm referring to India. You've seen the President's trip last fall, which was, we thought, very important in developing that strategic partnership. It's something we'll continue to build on," he said.

From the outset, Obama placed a high priority in terms of trying to reestablish and reassert American leadership and standing around the globe.

"I think the last two years you have certainly seen that come about, and we continue to work on that. We have made every effort to strengthen our alliances:in Europe, with NATO; clearly in Asia, with our Japanese and Korean allies," he said.

"We have begun to develop new partnerships to address the global challenges that we all face and common interests that we share.

"This has highlighted by the efforts that the President and other world leaders have within the G-8 and then into the G-20, which I think has proven quite effective in addressing the international financial crisis, which is a key concern not only to the American people, in terms of the economy, but also globally.

"And I think that that's key in terms of one of the major accomplishments in terms of where we are today," he said.

Hammer said the US President remains firmly committed to try to advance the peace process in the Middle East.

"That’s something we're working on every day," he said.

"You have, obviously, recent developments in Tunisia, in Lebanon, in Egypt, and we're going to continue to follow those situations closely. We're working with our ECOWAS partners on the situation in Ivory Coast. You saw a quite successful referendum take place in Sudan. And that's another key area of interest," he said.