Elisângela Cordeiro
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - US Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) defended Brazil's entry as a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. He stated that this is his personal opinion, not the official position of the US government. Coleman is chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and member of the Subcommittee on UN Reform.

In his view Brazil deserves a permanent UN Security Council seat on the basis of the country's relevance and its increasingly significant international role. Coleman affirmed that, for the UN to become a more relevant organization, it is in need of reform and greater capacity to intervene in political and humanitarian crises. The Senator was in São Paulo, where he participated in the Brazil Against Piracy seminar.

Translation: David Silberstein