Vice President favours global legal regime against terrorism

Achinta Borah
Prague, Jun 8 (PTI) Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari
has made a strong pitch for an international legal regime
against terrorism, saying the menace knows no boundaries and
seriously threatens global peace and security.
The recent incidents of terrorism in India and other
countries serve as a grim reminder that the scourge of
terrorism was severely affecting the civilised life, Ansari
said.
"It knows no boundaries and seriously threatens
international peace and security," he said addressing a
banquet hosted by President of the Senate of the Parliament of
Czech Republic Premysl Sobotka on Monday night.
The Vice President said the international community
must continue and reinvigorate its collective efforts to
strengthen global cooperation to eradicate terrorism in all
its forms and manifestations.
"Swift and credible steps must be taken to eliminate
terrorist safe havens. There is an urgent need to strengthen
the global consensus and the legal regime against terrorism,
including early adoption of the long overdue Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism at the United Nations,"
he said.
Ansari said the challenge before India was to attain
and sustain rapid and inclusive economic growth within the
framework of parliamentary democracy and the country's
management of the economy over past two years helped it to
minimise the effect of the unprecedented global financial
crisis on its growth momentum.
"Economic growth recovered to 7.4 per cent in 2009-10
and in the current financial year 2010-11, the economy is
expected to grow at 8.5 per cent. This reflects the strong
fundamentals of our economy," he said.
Maintaining that there was an ideal synergy between
India's growing market and Czech technology, the Vice
President said both the countries already have bilateral trade
and investment in sectors as diverse as software,
pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, textiles and engineering
goods.
"The meeting in New Delhi last month, between
industrial users and R&D organisations of our two countries,
points to further areas of mutually beneficial cooperation,"
he said adding "We are also working together in the context of
the broader India-EU strategic partnership."
During the address, the Vice-President also remembered
the decades old relations between India and Czech, mentioning
the visit of Rabindranath Tagore twice to Prague in 1920s at
the invitation of his friend and celebrated Czech Indologist
Professor Lesny and the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938
accompanied by his daughter Indira. PTI ACB
RBT