BRICS members agree to deny terrorists access to finance

Top security advisors of BRICS grouping today agreed to cooperate to deny terrorists access to finance and weapons while vowing to launch joint efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism emanating from the West Asia and North African region.
The decision came as the BRICS High Representatives responsible for security held their sixth meeting here, which was presided over by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
They deliberated on security issues such as counter- terrorism, cyber security and energy security, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, adding that they also exchanged assessments of recent developments in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region.

He said that India has always said from the very beginning that there should not be a segmented approach on the issue of terror.
The High Representatives encouraged cooperation and exchanging of best practices, expertise, information and knowledge on counter-terrorism issues.
In this context, they welcomed the first meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Counter-Terrorism that was held a day before.

They also agreed to expand BRICS Counter-Terrorism cooperation further to include measures for denying terrorists access to finance and terror-hardware such as equipment, arms and ammunition.
They underscored the need for a global legal regime to deal with the global menace of terrorism, Swarup said.

In the area of cyber security and information security,
the security advisors agreed to strengthen joint efforts on enhancing cyber security by sharing of information and best practices, combating cyber-crimes, improving cooperation between technical and law enforcement agencies, including joint cyber security R&D and capacity building.
While highlighting the need for resolution of outstanding disputes in the WANA region through dialogue, peaceful means and in accordance with international law and the principles of the UN charter, they also decided to pool BRICS' efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism emanating from the region.
Asked if the issue of blacklisting of terror individuals was raised, Swarup said the issue is well known and "I don't think this is something which needs to be flagged at every meeting".

Noting that the whole world knows India's position on the issue, he referred to the UN way of blacklisting terrorists and terror organisations.
"It (blacklisting of terrorists through the UN route) should not be governed by political considerations. A terrorist is a terrorist and should be so identified," he said.
The security advisors concurred on a BRICS Forum to progressively consolidate cooperation and exchanges among respective agencies in security-related fields.
They also agreed to explore regular energy dialogue between BRICS countries in order to discuss long-term and medium-term energy security issues.