Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Sunday urged the world community to come together to address the "pressing issues" of terrorism, climate change and corruption.
Speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the ninth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit here, VP Naidu said these issues need to be addressed for ensuring peace, prosperity and the partnership of individuals in the inclusive growth story.
"The entire world must be peaceful. Peace is the prerequisite for progress. I would like to tell the entire world community from this forum of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit that three important challenges are there before the humanity, before the world...One of them is terror. Terror has no religion. It is the enemy of humanity. It has to be rooted out totally by all countries coming together. That is the need of the hour," he said.
The vice president also urged the world community to work together to ensure that the effect of climate change is minimised.
"We must all come together, work together to take care, to see that the climate change effect is minimised, and we all take proactive steps to face the challenge of climate change," he said and praised the "solar alliance" initiative.
International Solar Alliance is an alliance of more than 121 countries initiated by India, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
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Speaking on corruption, VP Naidu said that that practice "eats" into the vitals of our system, and is a big challenge world-wide.
He also appealed to the world community to come together "to exchange information about illegal bank accounts of different countries and have treaties on economic fugitives who loot and cheat the countries".
"If the world has to be peaceful, prosperous, and see inclusive growth of everybody becoming the partner in the development stories, they must all come together on these three major issues. And I hope everybody concerned should apply their mind and give a serious thought to these three things," he said.
VP Naidu said India's growth in the last 15 years is not limited to industry alone, but was also witnessed in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure, rural development, and IT services.
He said India was trying to go beyond the trade and investment and hoping to develop "long-lasting bonds between nations that will cement the seeds of trust and cooperation".
"This will be paramount to identifying solutions to issues in the economic, social and cultural sphere, especially in today's world which is much heterogeneous," he said, adding that initiatives like the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit are endeavours in the same direction.
India's growth is supported by "progressive and long-term reforms, sound financial acumen and the impetus given to building a robust infrastructure", the VP said.
"The reforms taken up by the government in the past few years have made India the top destination for investments in the world," he said.
"In fact, this is the right time for foreign investors to tap the huge potential offered by India in various sectors from real estate to healthcare. India is the bright spot in the world's economy today," he said.
The vice president also hailed States vying to attract investment by organising similar summits and said "unless States become strong, the country cannot become strong and unless the country becomes strong, the world cannot become strong".
Earlier in the day, he visited the Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the tallest such monument in the world, at Kavadia in Narmada district.