New Delhi : Vice President M. Hamid Ansari on Friday said India will raise the issue of terrorism during the upcoming NAM Summit, being held in Venezuela, as peace is required for development.
“Our objective is development and for that we need peace, both at the domestic and international level. These things are being interrupted by terrorism and therefore has to be addressed,” he told media onboard his Special Aircraft while enroute to Venezuela.
Talking about the summit, to be held on September 17-18, the Vice President said that Non-Aligned Summits or the Movement itself were not new to India, as it has been part of the group since its founding in 1961.
On whether there has been a change in India’s foreign policy, the Vice President said: “Our foreign policy, like domestic policies, is intended to achieve a set of objectives and to determine the best methodology for doing so. Methodologies may be adjusted or may undergo a change but the objective of representing India’s interests do not change.”
He said that development is the key priority for each of the countries in the NAM group, and that accordingly the theme of peace, sovereignty and solidarity for development has been chosen for the summit.
Ansari is leading the Indian delegation for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela’s Margarita Island in the absence of Prime Minister Modi, who has become only the second Indian Prime Minister to not go for the conference after Charan Singh in 1979.