UNITED NATIONS, July 17: As representatives of the African Union and the foreign ministers of G-4 countries met Sunday afternoon to hammer out a compromise deal on the two competing resolutions on the expansion of the UN Security Council, India’s Foreign Minister Natwar Singh noted “that the G-4 has put the reforms of the UN Security Council firmly on the UN agenda”.

“It will remain there as we continue our discussions in a constructive and friendly manner in the coming days,” Mr Singh added as he ducked questions about seeking a vote on the resolution any time soon.

He made his remarks after a meeting of foreign ministers from the so-called Group of Four — Japan, Brazil, India and Germany - with the General Assembly President Jean Ping.

But the diplomats here said that barring a compromise the vote could come after July 22 when the President of UN General Assembly Jean Ping returns to New York.

“Without support from the African Union the G-4 plan to expand the Security Council does not have the required two-thirds majority and a compromise on the African Union’s plan is difficult,” said one diplomat.

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, Brazil’s Celso Amorim, Germany’s Joschka Fischer and India’s Natwar Singh also called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at his residence. Mr Annan is recuperating from a shoulder surgery which took place on Friday afternoon.

The four countries are seeking permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

Both the African Union and the G-4 are striving to enlarge the council by the same number of permanent seats. But the African group wants to add permanent members with veto rights, whereas the G-4 in its resolution has put off the veto issue for 15 years.

While both the G-4 and African Union also want to increase the number of non-permanent seats, the G-4 wants to increase that number by four and the African Union wants to add five. In all, the G-4 proposes a combined total of permanent and non-permanent seats to add up to 25, while the African Union’s enlargement scheme will total 26.

The “Uniting for Consensus,” which has circulated its own proposal calls for expanding only in the area of non-permanent seats. The UFC is led by Italy, Pakistan, South Korea, Argentina and Mexico, among others.

Meanwhile, the African Union has scheduled a general debate on Monday to discuss its resolution.