A top US official today said that India would be a "central part" in any consideration of reform at the United Nations Security Council.

However, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns did not publicly endorse India for permanent membership to the UNSC.

"We recognise, very clearly, India's increasing global role. We recognise the importance of reform of the UN Security Council; we're open to expansion of permanent membership of the council and we believe that India's going to have a central part to play in the consideration that's going to come of that reform of the UN Security Council," Burns said in response to another question.

"It's obvious that the Security Council, as has been the case with other parts of international architecture over the last few years, is an issue that needs to be addressed so that it reflects the realities of 2010," Burns said.

Now, obviously, we want to try to do that in a way which is going to preserve the effectiveness of the Security Council, but this administration has made clear not only its openness to reform and some expansion of permanent membership in the Security Council, but we've also underscored the importance we attached to India's role," Burns argued.

"So I think India's going to be a central part of the consideration that is bound to come of Security Council reform," he said, adding: "I do very much understand the significance of Security Council reform.

I think it's an important issue for the United States to address and I think India's going to be very much a part of that process."

Burns said reform of the UN Security Council is an important part of the international architecture that needs to be renovated to reflect the realities of 2010.

"We've already seen considerable movement in a number of other areas - the emergence of the G-20 in the wake of a global financial crisis; ad hoc groups, whether it's the P-5 plus one or the six-party talks on North Korea that have assumed increasing importance," he said.

So on Security Council reform it's an issue that this administration recognises as extremely important.

We want to go about it in a way that's going to preserve the effectiveness of the Security Council, but we also recognise that that means that the realities of 1945 don't apply today.

And that means that for countries like India and for other countries, we need very much to consider how their increasing role in global affairs is matched by the responsibilities that they can discharge in the most important parts of the international architecture," Burns said in response to another question on this issue.