India should lead the world; must get permanent UN seat: Bhutan

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) Asking India to not only lead the region but also the world and take centre-stage in global affairs, Bhutan supported the country's "indisputable right" to get a permanent seat in an enlarged UN Security Council. Delivering the 4th Prof Hiren Mukherjee Memorial Annual Parliamentary Lecture on "National Happiness: A Holistic Paradigm for Sustainable Development" at the Central Hall of India's Parliament in New Delhi on Tuesday, Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley said it is an obligation of India to be among those who set the global agenda and have a profound role in shaping the destiny of mankind. "We must, together, contribute positively to the making of a harmonious and cooperative SAARC (South Asian Association for Regionl Cooperation) .... All of our nations stand to benefit not only economically from growing trade in goods and services and investment flows but from the peace and stability each of us needs to attend to the challenges of delivering what our voters and constituencies need. "To this end, India must show the way. She must lead not only the region but the world," he said. He said as the largest democracy and as a powerful and rapidly expanding economy representing 17 per cent of humanity, it is the "obligation of India to be among those who, in a real sense, set the global agenda and have a profound role in shaping the destiny of mankind." Supporting India for a permanent seat at the UN, the prime minister said, "Bhutan, like so many other countries, believes in the indisputable right of India to be permanently seated in an enlarged UN Security Council." Prof. Hiren Mukherjee, in whose memory the lecture was delivered, was a leading parliamentarian of the country belonging to the Communist Party of India. PTI