NEW DELHI, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- India and the other G-4 countries -- Japan, Brazil and Germany -- have decided to intensify their consultations to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) after the United States enunciated criteria for the UNSC membership earlier this week.

    "The G-4 foreign ministers will be meeting in Brussels on June 22. External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh will be cutting short his visit to Italy for this purpose," said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna here Saturday.

    US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, at a press briefing in Washington Wednesday, listed several criteria for "eligible countries" and those countries which are "supremely well qualified" to become members of the UNSC.

    His statement that Washington is "considering supporting two orso new permanent members" to the council rekindled hopes in India about Washington's support for India's bid on the basis of criteria spelt out by the US official.

    Early this week, the Indian foreign minister had spoken to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer as part of India's strategy to drum up maximum support for the UNSC expansion. He also spoke to Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

    India and other G-4 countries are trying to win as many co-sponsors for the draft resolution as possible. France is the only one among the five permanent members to co-sponsor the G-4 draft resolution. Enditem