NEW DELHI: The top leaders of Russia-India-China (RIC) are expected to meet in June for their second summit in less than a year's time amid a fluid geo-political situation, and driven by the common objective of controlling terror infrastructure.
The RIC Summit is expected to be held on the sidelines of G-20 Summit in Osaka in June as decided by the three foreign ministers in their meet last week, well-informed sources indicated to ET.
Global trade and challenges within WTO besides countering terror and terror finance will be the key items on the agenda of the proposed summit. The last RIC summit, held after 12 years, was organised on the sidelines of G-20 summit in Buenos Aires in November (LAST YEAR).
In a significant gain for India in its push to isolate Pakistan internationally on the issue of terrorism post-Pulwama attack, RIC foreign ministers agreed for closer policy coordination to eradicate the "breeding grounds of terrorism".
The commitment came at the RIC foreign ministers’ meet in China. "We agreed to jointly combat all forms terrorism through closer policy coordination and practical cooperation. Especially important is to eradicate the breeding grounds of terrorism and extremism," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at the end meeting summing up the discussions on terrorism, especially in the backdrop of the February 14 Pulwama terrorist attack.
The ministers also stressed that terrorist groups cannot be supported and used in political and geopolitical goals. The three foreign ministers stressed that those committing, orchestrating, inciting or supporting terrorist acts must be held accountable and brought to justice in accordance with existing international commitments on countering terrorism, including the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the FATF standards, international treaties, including on the basis of the principle "extradite or prosecute” and relevant international and bilateral obligations and in compliance with applicable domestic legislation.
In China, the foreign minister talks were focused on defending democratic basis of world order as well as principals of multilateralism, sources said, adding strengthening of strategic stability was also on the agenda.
Besides there was an exchange of views between the three foreign ministers on Afghanistan, as they decided to cooperate within SCO and decided to hold a forum of young diplomats of RIC in Russia this year.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com