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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said cross-border terrorism is one of the main narratives of the BRICS declaration even as she asserted that the issue of terrorism is being recognised globally as a critical factor.
The two-day BRICS event got concluded in Goa earlier this week. It was attended by heads of states of all the member nations – Brazil (President Michel Temer), Russia (President Vladimir Putin), China (President Xi Jinping) and South Africa (President Jacob Zuma).
“India this year brought tactical approach to the BRICS Summit as the chair … Terrorism is universally recognised as a key threat to stability, progress and development. Consequently, it featured strongly in the conference narrative and its eventual outcome,” Swaraj said here addressing a BRICS media forum.
Her remarks assume importance in the backdrop of the widespread criticism that India’s harping on the terrorism issue did not find much resonance with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
“There is now a growing recognition that this has now become a truly global challenge. Global economic development is now very much dependent on the continued peace and security. The international community can only ignore this at its peril,” she said.
Taking a sharp dig at neighbouring Pakistan, the minister said there is a need to extract costs from those who “sponsor and support terrorists and provide them sanctuary” and continue to make the “false distinction” between “good and bad terrorists''.
On the government’s initiative to revive the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), Swaraj said the grouping represents polar opposite of terror promoting polity.
BIMSTEC consists of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
“These are nations who are actively promoting connectivity, cooperation and context amongst themselves. There cannot be a greater contrast with those who reject even trade and connectivity for political reasons,” Swaraj said with an obvious reference to Pakistan.
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