By Manish Chand, IANS,
Phuket (Thailand): At the meeting of foreign ministers of the ASEAN and East Asia region here Wednesday, India reminded the world of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the recent Jakarta bombings, as it pressed for greater intelligence sharing and an early adoption of a UN convention on international terrorism to defeat the scourge.
Imparting a fresh impetus to India’s Look East policy, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna also made a vigorous pitch for a collective response to global challenges like financial meltdown as New Delhi gets ready to sign a free trade area (FTA) in goods at its next summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The terrorist attack on our financial capital, Mumbai, in 2008, leading to the loss of hundreds of innocent Indian and foreign lives shook not just our region, but the world as a whole, for the complete disregard of human decency,” Krishna said at his meeting with foreign ministers of 16 East Asia Summit countries.
“International solidarity is necessary in order to combat this scourge effectively. We should unequivocally condemn terrorism; no cause or reasoning can be used to justify such acts,” Krishna stressed.
“In this context, the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism being discussed in the United Nations is an immediate imperative,” he added.
Alluding to the 2003 Bali Joint Declaration to combat international terrorism, Krishna contended that “it is appropriate that we exchange information and intelligence and develop more effective counter-terrorism initiatives, to enable sustainable development of our region.”
Evolving a pan-Asian strategy to combat terrorism will be a major theme at the 16th ASEAN Regional Forum in the Thai island resort Thursday that is meeting in the shadow of recent bombings in Jakarta.
The ARF will be attended by the foreign ministers of 27 countries, including those of India, China, the US and Russia. Put together, the ARF countries boast an annual output of $1.1 trillion and represent more than half the world’s population.
Setting an upbeat tone for India’s accelerating engagement with Southeast Asia and East Asia, Krishna said: “We have finalised the text of agreement on trade-in-goods and have also commenced negotiations on services and investment agreements in October, 2008.”
N. Ravi, secretary in India’s external affairs ministry told reporters: “We are hopeful of signing the FTA in goods at the next summit in Thailand.”
Ahead of the G20 summit in Pittsburg in the US in September, Krishna stressed that the position of developing countries should be reflected in global efforts to combat the financial meltdown.
Krishna arrived in this Thai island resort of Phuket Tuesday night on a three-day visit.
India is a dialogue partner at ASEAN, which comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Brunei.
Besides the 10 nations of ASEAN, the 16-nation EAS also comprises India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and South Korea.