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Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024

NEW DELHI – External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday flagged concerns over the activities of terrorism, separatism and extremism across borders, and asserted that these "three evils" won't encourage trade, energy flows and people-to-people exchanges in parallel. Addressing the 23rd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of Government in Islamabad, Jaishankar stressed strengthening "mutual trust, friendship and good neighbourliness", the objectives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to benefit from new opportunities in trade and investment.

"It is axiomatic that development and growth requires peace and stability. And, as the Charter spelt out, this means being firm and uncompromising in countering the 'three evils' -- terrorism, separatism and extremism. If activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel," Jaishankar said.

Referring to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter, Jaishankar underlined the need to reflect on the goals and tasks of the organisation. "If trust is lacking or cooperation inadequate, if friendship has fallen short and good neighbourliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address," he said.

The world, he said, was moving towards multipolarity, and globalisation and rebalancing were realities that couldn't be denied. "...they have created many new opportunities in terms of trade, investment, connectivity, energy flows and other forms of collaboration. There is no question that our region would benefit immensely if we take this forward...to do that, cooperation must be based on mutual respect and sovereign equality. It must be built on genuine partnerships, not unilateral agendas. It cannot progress if we cherry-pick global practices, especially of trade and transit," the external affairs minister said.

To attend the meeting, Jaishankar reached Islamabad on Tuesday. In the evening, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed him at a dinner hosted for the SCO Council of Heads of Government. Jaishankar's visit is the first by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nine years. His predecessor Sushma Swaraj had visited Pakistan in December 2015, to attend a multilateral event.

In its capacity as the rotating chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, Pakistan is hosting the two-day in-person SCO Heads of Government meeting.  End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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