New York  - Iceland, a candidate for UN Security Council membership, said Tuesday that small states are well placed to play important political and economic roles while the world's major powers are finding their way out of the current financial crisis.

Iceland is running for a two-year term seat on the 15-nation council, competing with Austria and Turkey for the two seats reserved for European states. The two outgoing European states are Belgium and Italy.

The United Nations General Assembly will on Friday elect five new members to replace the five nations whose terms will expire on December 31.

Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said during a debate at UN headquarters in New York that his island nation has resources that are "fundamentally strong" to face the financial crisis because of its enormous wealth in clean energy production, both geo-thermal and hydro, as well as natural ocean riches.

"In today's world, small states have the great advantage of being a threat to no one," he said through a televised conference. Grimsson said small states have no hidden agenda and cannot deploy military forces or financial power to achieve their aims.

Small states, if elected to the council, can share the company of major powers and are "crucial players when issues of peace and security are decided."

Grimsson gave support to other island nations that have made progress in advancing projects to reform the UN and establish new world justice systems such as the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

There are more than 500 million people living on more than 100,000 islands around the world, Iceland said at the UN debate focusing on the role of small states in international peace and security in the 21st century.

Major powers in the UN council - the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China - have taken most of the decisions regarding global peace and security. (dpa)