Japan, Brazil, Germany and India have formed a lobbying group to help all four countries obtain permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
Leaders from the four nations met in New York last night on the fringes of the session of the UN General Assembly.
Afterwards they issued a statement that they supported one another's candidacies in an expanded Security Council, and also said an African nation should get a seat.
In his address to the General Assembly, Japans's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said his country was ready to play a bigger role on the world stage.
