NEW DELHI: India and European Union on Friday adopted a comprehensive action plan (through a joint statement) to combat international terrorism including criticising terror act by Rohingya terrorists besides sending a clear message to China by emphasising on UNCLOS for resolving all maritime territorial disputes.
The EU on its part pushed for adoption of a Free Trade Agreement to push trade partnership with the continent being India’s single biggest trading partner as a bloc. Europe that has come under series of terror attacks for past couple of years decided to expand scope and ambit of counter-terror partnership at the 14th edition of India-EU summit here.
"The leaders strongly condemned recent terror attacks in many parts of the world, underlining their common concern about the global threat posed by terrorism and extremism. They adopted a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism with a view to deepening their strategic and security cooperation, and expressed their strong commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, based on a comprehensive approach," stated the joint statement issued at the end of the Summit. ..
"We have agreed to work together against terrorism and expand security cooperation in this regard. We will not only cooperate on this issue at the bilateral level but also at the global level," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a joint address to the media along with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker after delegation-level talks here.
Tusk in his remarks said India and the EU were two of the world's largest democracies and both sides had agreed to develop the political dimension of the relationship. "We adopted a joint declaration on counter-terrorism to deal effectively with the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, terror financing and arms supply arms supply. We agreed to cooperate in security in the Indian Ocean region and beyond," noted Tusk.
Source: Economictimes.indiatimes.com
