BRICS adopts Goa declaration; calls for tackling terrorism, adoption of CCIT

Benaulim (Goa): The five-nation powerful grouping of BRICS on Sunday asked all countries to prevent "terrorist actions" from their territories and called for expeditious adoption of an India-backed global convention by the UN to fight the menace effectively.

A declaration adopted at the annual summit of grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa called upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, violent extremism, radicalisation, recruitment, movement of terrorists including foreign terrorists and blocking sources of financing terrorism.

"We call upon all nations to work together to expedite the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN General Assembly without any further delay," the Goa declaration issued at the end of the Summit said.

It also asked the countries to adopt a "holistic" approach in successfully combating terrorism.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for decisive action to deal with terrorism and described Pakistan as a mothership of global terrorism.

The BRICS said sources of terror funding like organised crime by means of money-laundering, drug trafficking, criminal activities, dismantling terrorist bases, and countering misuse of the internet including through social media by terror entities should be focus areas.

"Successfully combating terrorism requires a holistic approach. All counter-terrorism measures should uphold international law and respect human rights," the declaration said.

Stressing UN's central role in coordinating multilateral approaches against terrorism, the BRICS urged all nations to undertake effective implementation of relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and reaffirmed its commitment on increasing the effectiveness of the UN counter terrorism framework.

In the declaration, the BRICS said it reaffirmed commitment to the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) international standards on combating money laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation.

The FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001 the purpose expanded to act on terrorism financing.

It also called for swift, effective and universal implementation of FATF on combating terrorist financing, including effective implementation of its operational plan.

Asserting that selective approaches to terrorist individuals and organizations will not only be futile but also "counter-productive", Modi said there must be no distinction based on "artificial and self-serving grounds".

His remark came against the backdrop of Chinese putting a "hold" on global banning of Masood Azhar, who is a mastermind of several terror attacks in India, including on Pathankot Airbase in January.

Making a press statement in the presence of all the BRICS leaders at the conclusion of the Summit, Modi said it was "agreed that those who nurture, shelter, support and sponsor such forces of violence and terror are as much a threat to us as the terrorists themselves."

Emphasising that security and counter-terrorism cooperation are necessary "if we are to secure the lives of our citizens", he said, "terrorism casts a long shadow on our development and economic prosperity. Its reach is now global. It has grown more lethal and adept at the use of technology. Our response to terrorism must, therefore, be nothing less than comprehensive."

He said terrorist funding, their weapons supply, training and political support must be systematically cut off. "In this respect, we need to deepen the security cooperation between our National Security Advisors," the Prime Minister said.

He said the BRICS leaders were unanimous in recognizing the threat that terrorism, extremism and radicalization presents, not just to the regional and global peace, stability and economic prosperity but, also to our society, our way of life and humanity as a whole.

"We were also one in agreeing that BRICS need to work together and act decisively to combat this threat and underscored the need for close coordination on tracking sources of terrorist financing; and targeting the hardware of terrorism, including weapons' supplies, ammunition, equipment, and training," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said India was happy to note the unity of thought and purpose on this serious global challenge.

During his bilaterals with Putin and Xi yesterday, Modi had strongly articulated India's concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

"The growing arc of terrorism today threatens Middle East, West Asia, Europe and South Asia," he said.

"Its violent footprint puts at risk the security of our citizens and undercuts our efforts aimed at economic growth," the Prime Minister added.

On achievement of BRICS, Modi said the footprint of intra-grouping engagement has expanded over time to include large areas of economic activity.

"The scope of our partnership today stretches from agriculture to industry and innovation; trade to tourism; environment to energy; films to football; skill development to smart cities; and from fighting corruption and money laundering to securing our societies," he said.

He said the establishment of New Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement are "indeed signature achievements".

"In a world of new security challenges and continuing economic uncertainties, BRICS stands as a beacon of peace potential and promise," he said.

The Prime Minister said the process of institution building in BRICS must continue to remain a focus area.

"The institutions that we build must support the development of our countries and regions. They should enable greater flexibility and freedom, and offer wider choices in responding to our developmental priorities," he said.

He further said, "We look forward to translating into reality the idea of a BRICS Credit Rating Agency."

The Prime Minister said there was also a clear need to build norms, create structures and pool our capacities to stop tax evasion, and fight against black money and corruption.

"Our agencies must also build mechanisms of information sharing to bring to justice the tax offenders and money launderers. BRICS should push for empowering the global governance institutions to reflect today's reality," he said.

Modi said transforming the quantum and quality of trade and investment should be a priority.

"In 2015, intra-BRICS trade stood at about USD 250 billion. We should set ourselves a target to double this number to USD five hundred billion by 2020.

"This requires businesses and industry in all five countries to scale up their engagement. And, for governments to facilitate this process to the fullest. Our agreement on a tax and custom cooperation framework is a good start," he said.

He said the BRICS New Development Bank must play an active role to support this objective. "Our cooperation must grab this opportunity to transform the basic structure of our economies.

The Prime Minister also congratulated China and offered full support as it takes over the Presidency next year.