Must collectively combat terrorism, violent extremism: Jaishankar at 18th BIMSTEC
"Participated at the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Colombo today. Thank FM Prof. GL Peiris for his hospitality. Emphasised our commitment to intensify and expand areas of cooperation, especially connectivity, energy and maritime cooperation," EAM Jaishankar tweeted.
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Speaking at the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Colombo, S Jaishankar said much of what grouping could achieve in our national development efforts is, of course, predicated on a peaceful, secure and stable environment.
"We cannot ignore the challenges that terrorism and violent extremism, as also transnational crime and narco-trafficking or indeed new challenges such as cyber-attacks, pose to all of us," EAM said in a statement.
"All of these affect our economic development efforts. We need to put in place the remaining elements of the legal architecture that will enable our law enforcement agencies to collaborate more closely and more effectively," he added.
The Bay of Bengal achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 targets and ensuring a "good order at sea" in keeping with international maritime law, particularly UNCLOS is a priority.
He said a practical way to proceed is to have discussions using existing dialogue mechanisms, even while "we put in place a plan of action in the maritime domain which is consistent with our national priorities".
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Asserting that the international system is going through a very challenging phase, perhaps one of the most difficult in recent memory, he said, "The challenges of Covid-19 pandemic have not yet fully abated. But recent developments in Ukraine have added to international disquiet," he said in the statement.
Addressing the gathering, including fellow foreign ministers, he emphasised the acceleration of the efforts to boost intra BIMSTEC trade and economic ties.
He said: "Tomorrow our leaders will adopt the BIMSTEC Charter. This is a land mark achievement in our effort to develop the institutional architecture for BIMSTEC. But we must not rest on this achievement and instead move on to 'next steps' that can be taken to further strengthen BIMSTEC. I am confident that we will identify priority institution building tasks & areas of cooperation, and task our senior officials to work with the Secretary General for their realisation."
-PTC News
