SCO should come together to deal with terrorism: Rajnath Singh

Tashkent (Uzbekistan): In a strong statement against terrorism with Pakistan present at the same table, India on Saturday asked the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member countries to strengthen the existing international laws to combat terrorism “without exceptions or double standards”.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, addressing the SCO summit in Tashkent, said: “Terrorism continues to disrupt societies and undermine developmental endeavors. The only way to fight this scourge is to strengthen and implement, without exceptions or double standards, all existing international laws and mechanisms to combat terrorists and their enablers.” Addressing the 18th meeting of Council of Heads of Government (CHG) as the Special Envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Defence Minister highlighted the significance of the eight-member organisation in effectively addressing the challenges facing the region. “Terrorism continues to disrupt our societies and undermine our developmental endeavors. It is important for SCO countries to come together to deal with this menace,” he said. He congratulated Russia for successfully holding the SCO joint military exercise ‘CENTER 2019’ in Orenburg aimed at evolving drills of the participating armies in the fight against international terrorism. He said the process of globalisation has opened up immense opportunities for the growth of SCO members, and also brought to the fore multidimensional, complex and transnational threats affecting developing countries. He urged the SCO to work together in defeating challenges like terrorism, climate change, endemic poverty, underdevelopment, pandemics, and inequality, a statement said. He also voiced the Government’s resolve of providing an enabling economic ecosystem for partner countries to invest and do business in India.

Highlighting the ‘Make in India’ programme, Singh invited SCO countries to enter into collaborative joint ventures in India, saying that significant work has already been undertaken towards improving ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the country. “We strongly support the initiative to facilitate cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises within the SCO. The food industry is another potential area of collaboration. SCO members can work together for technology and investment support to food processing and put in a supporting logistics chain,” he said. Emphasising that “unilateralism and protectionism have done well to none”, the Defence Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to a transparent, rules-based, open, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its center. “We need approaches, which are inclusive, transparent and firmly anchored in multilateralism. Successful multilateralism also needs adherence to core principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference, and mutual cooperation,” he added. (IANS)

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