Mr Obama has acknowledged Brazil's aspiration to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
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And then who, if anyone, should have a permanent seat, or who should take turns?
They want, above all, a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
He said it was "madness" that Africa, South America and India did not hold a permanent seat on the U.N.
However he added that if South Africa was chosen for a permanent seat on the council it would not refuse.
Through these efforts, it seems that Rousseff is seeking to garner U.S. support for a permanent seat on the U.N.
Why doesn't a single Arab or Muslim country have a permanent seat?
France, after all, is a nuclear power with its permanent seat in the Security Council, while Germany is militarily puny and diplomatically still nervous.
India is also mounting a concerted effort to gain a greater say in global institutions, for example by campaigning for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
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From now on, the G20 will replace the narrower, Western-dominated G8 as the primary global economic talking-shop, giving the likes of China, India and Brazil a permanent seat at the table.
However, each of the leading aspirants to a permanent seat has its opponents (Pakistan opposes India, Mexico opposes Brazil, etc), so years of arguing over reforms to the council's membership have got nowhere.
President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in India for two days of talks, making him the fifth and final leader from a nation with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council to visit the South Asian country in 2010.
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As an upside to Brazil, the CFR report recommended that Washington lobby to get Brazil a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, something the previous Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, often went on world tours trying to promote.
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Other nations seeking a permanent council seat include Israel, Brazil, Germany and India.
It has a permanent United Nations Security Council seat and a robust defence capability, as well as ties to Africa and the Arab world that make its voice count.
One hundred years after she was born and 58 years after she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks has a permanent place in the halls of Congress.
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