Foreign Minister S Jaishankar expressed confidence in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that India would become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) "one day" and said the work in this direction was progressing step by step.

The minister said it takes a long and patient effort forgetting permanent membership of the council."Well, I will hope soon. But I am realistic enough to know that it is a long and patient effort. We are not lacking in patience and not lacking in our perseverance and we are not lacking in our aspirations. We will get that one day. I am very confident and it isprogressing step by step," he said in the Upper House.

S Jaishankar was replying to a query from Vijila Sathyananth(AIADMK) on India's entry into the UNSC as a permanent member.Currently, thereare five permanent members of the UNSC -- China, France, Russia, the UnitedKingdom and the United States.

On India's S-400 missile deal with Russia, S Jaishankarassured the members that the country had made it "very clear" toeverybody that it took decisions on merits."We will not be influenced byother countries on what we do in terms of our national security and defence. Ifwe have committed to the S-400 agreement, which we have, then other countriesneed to respect that decision," he said.

India and Russia have signed the USD 5 billion S-400 airdefence system deal.Talking about India's relations with the US following PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's Houston visit, the minister said: "We heardtwo-three important messages from Houston. One, the Indian community standsunited in support of India. They came to Houston to express support for India,the changes in India...I think that is important and should be welcomed."

As regards the concerns about how this would be perceived inthe US, Mr Jaishankar said the government handled the US in a bipartisanmanner."I would like to assure you that our relationship goes across partydivides in the US. It is today a very durable relationship. It is arelationship which has got a very firm foundation, so we can be assured thatthere won''t be any issue in that regard," he said.As regards Pakistan, hesaid, "We will have to accept that it is a unique neighbour, differentfrom all other neighbours.

"But when it comes to the Neighbourhood First policy,our objective today is that all our neighbours work with us. In different ways,we have connectivity with them."Mr Jaishankar said if one looked at trade,projects and visas, every number with every neighbour, barring Pakistan, was betterthan what it was before.

"...we have made it very clear to them that we will begenerous and large-hearted and I think that has been the prime minister'smessage from his first visit to Nepal in 2014. The message which he carried toother countries as well. They have great faith in his leadership to deliver onthat," he added.On India's relationship with Sri Lanka, the foreignminister said he had visited the island nation a day after the new presidentwas sworn-in.

"We briefly discussed bilateral relationship. Thepresident of Sri Lanka is due in India for a visit, many of our bilateralconcerns will be discussed. The relevant points which I would like to make forthe consideration of the House is that the president assured us that he is thepresident of all Sri Lankans," he said."So I think we need to a lookat that assurance and obviously, whatever discussion will happen during hisvisit will demonstrate where that assurance holds," he added.

On a query related to the country's relations with Nepal, MrJaishankar said whatever issues were there were sorted out amicably.Theminister said negotiations with France were going on regarding a nuclear powerplant. Elaborating further, he said there were issues with regard to thetechno-commercial offer.

The issue was raised by Jairam Ramesh of the Congress.

"The member is fully aware that nuclear plants andcontracts take years, in fact many many years to negotiate and fructify,"Mr Jaishankar said.

He added that the government was fully committed towardsensuring the safety and security of the nuclear plants in the country.