BIMSTEC represents polar opposite of terror promoting polity: Swaraj

New Delhi, October 18: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said India’s initiative of inviting BIMSTEC nations for the Goa BRICS Summit was a success because the countries “represent the polar opposite of a terrorism promoting polity” — a reference to Pakistan and its terror-aiding activities.

“Members of BIMSTEC – Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand — today represent the polar opposite of a terrorism

promoting polity. They are focused on improving the quality of life of their people, on skills and employment, on education and health, and on the quality of governance and the deepening of democracy,” Sushma Swaraj said at the inauguration of BRICS Media Forum here.

She said these are nations were actively promoting connectivity, cooperation and contacts amongst themselves.

“Their interface with the BRICS has a message in itself. This is that a world changing in a positive direction as reflected by the BRICS has its regional expression in a community like BIMSTEC that is able to visualize a prosperous collective future. There cannot be a greater contrast with those who reject even trade and connectivity for political reasons.”

She said BRICS meetings have always had “an overarching political context” underlining that “a serious global discourse cannot be the preserve of a few countries with a narrow agenda”.

The Goa BRICS Summit, she said, represented a further advancement in terms of the breadth and focus of its discussions.

“Terrorism was universally recognized as a key threat to stability, progress and development. Consequently, it featured strongly in the
conference narrative and its eventual outcome. Indeed, what we saw was not just an understanding of the dangers posed by terrorism to the economic aspirations of the world but a growing recognition that this has now become a truly global challenge that the international community can only ignore at its peril.”