India, Brazil, South Africa push for efforts to counter Al-Qaeda, ISIS, LeT

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira, and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, held a meeting on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United National General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

During the meeting, the ministers urged collective action against all terrorist individuals and entities designated by the United Nations, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and other affiliated proxy groups, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.

The joint statement released following the IBSA meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs stated, "The ministers called for concerted actions against all UN listed terrorists and terrorist entities including Al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), other proxy groups and their facilitators. The Ministers reiterated their resolve to step up joint efforts for the expeditious adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UNGA."

 

The joint statement further said, "The ministers looked forward to further deepening counter-terrorism cooperation and reaffirmed the sole authority of the UN Security Council for imposing sanctions and called for urgent reform of the working methods of UN Security Council Sanctions Committees to ensure their effectiveness, responsiveness and transparency while avoiding politicisation and double standards of any of their proceedings including listing proposals objectively on evidence-based criteria."

The ministers also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, wherever committed and by whomsoever. They concurred that terrorism is a global scourge that must be fought and that terrorist safe havens must be eliminated in every part of the world.

The ministers reaffirmed that the fight against terrorism must be carried out with full respect for international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law.

They called upon the international community to establish a genuinely broad international counterterrorism framework following the principles of international law and support the United Nations' central coordinating role in international counterterrorism cooperation.

They recalled the responsibility of all states to prevent and counter-terrorism, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, the financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories.

BSA is a unique forum that brings together India, Brazil and South Africa. All three countries are developing, pluralistic, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious nations. The grouping was formalised and named the IBSA Dialogue Forum when the Foreign Ministers of the three countries met in Brasilia in 2003.

Meanwhile, sharing a post on X on the IBSA meeting, Jaishankar wrote, "Attended a productive IBSA Foreign Minister's meeting today alongside FM Mauro Vieira and FM Ronald Lamola. IBSA nations participate in and shape ongoing global discourses on development, SDGs, poverty eradication, multilateralism, and South-South cooperation. We share convergent views on reforms of UN system and of its Security Council. Our consultations should intensify as these debates acquire greater urgency.