India a major influence on G-20 counter-terror talks, says Panagariya

Hamburg: India said on Saturday that it had “a major influence” on counter-terrorism discussions at the G-20 Summit here with Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the key issue with European leaders.

“India had a major influence on counter terrorism discussions at the G-20 and also played a significant role in talks on trade and investment, migration and climate change,” Arvind Panagariya, sherpa for India at the summit, said at a media briefing.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said counter-terrorism measures remained in focus during all discussions Prime Minister Modi had with European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the G-20.

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Mr Modi has been raising the issue of combating terrorism in all his meetings recently with European leaders in the wake of a spate of terror attacks that have struck European countries like Germany, France, the UK and Sweden recently.

Pledging a joint crackdown on the global scourge of terrorism and to check its funding sources, G-20 leaders, including Mr Modi, said on Friday that all terror havens must be eliminated in every part of the world.

In a joint declaration on countering terrorism on the first day of the G-20 Summit, they resolved to facilitate swift and targeted exchanges of information between intelligence, law enforcement and judicial authorities on operational information-sharing, preventive measures and criminal justice response.

Referring to the declaration, Mr Panagariya said that the G-20 nations’ joint statement on fighting terror was to be an annexure to the G-20 declaration but India pitched for it to be a separate statement.

Mr Modi, who was a lead speaker on the theme of terrorism at the Leaders Retreat at the G-20 Summit on Friday, had bracketed Pakistan-based terror groups like LeT and JeM with ISIS and Al Qaeda and made a strong pitch for global “deterrent” action against countries that support terrorism for their political goals.

Mr Modi had presented an 11-point action plan to counter terror, including a ban on the entry of officials from terrorism-supporting countries into G-20 nations.