Prague, June 08: Vice President Hamid Ansari has made a strong pitch for an international legal regime against terrorism, saying the menace knows no boundaries and seriously threatens global peace and security.
The recent incidents of terrorism in India and other countries serve as a grim reminder that the scourge of terrorism was severely affecting the civilised life, Ansari said.
“It knows no boundaries and seriously threatens international peace and security,” he said addressing a banquet hosted by President of the Senate of the Parliament of Czech Republic Premysl Sobotka last night.
The Vice President said the international community must continue and reinvigorate its collective efforts to strengthen global cooperation to eradicate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“Swift and credible steps must be taken to eliminate terrorist safe havens. There is an urgent need to strengthen the global consensus and the legal regime against terrorism, including early adoption of the long overdue Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the United Nations,” he said.
Ansari said the challenge before India was to attain and sustain rapid and inclusive economic growth within the framework of parliamentary democracy and the country’s management of the economy over past two years helped it to minimise the effect of the unprecedented global financial crisis on its growth momentum.
“Economic growth recovered to 7.4 per cent in 2009-10 and in the current financial year 2010-11, the economy is expected to grow at 8.5 per cent. This reflects the strong fundamentals of our economy,” he said.
Maintaining that there was an ideal synergy between India’s growing market and Czech technology, the Vice President said both the countries already have bilateral trade and investment in sectors as diverse as software, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, textiles and engineering goods.
“The meeting in New Delhi last month, between industrial users and R&D organisations of our two countries, points to further areas of mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said adding “We are also working together in the context of the broader India-EU strategic partnership.”
During the address, the Vice-President also remembered the decades old relations between India and Czech, mentioning the visit of Rabindranath Tagore twice to Prague in 1920s at the invitation of his friend and celebrated Czech Indologist Professor Lesny and the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938 accompanied by his daughter Indira.
—-PTI—