S Jaishankar Calls Terrorism a Persistent Threat to Global Development at G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting

Terrorism "Persistent Threat" To Development: S Jaishankar

"The need for reforming multilateralism has never been greater," S Jaishankar said (File)

United Nations:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar emphasized on Thursday that terrorism continues to be a "persistent threat" to development and urged the global community to show neither tolerance nor accommodation towards terrorist activities.

During his address at the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting, Jaishankar highlighted that those who act against terrorists on any front provide a "larger service to the international community as a whole." Discussing the relationship between international peace and global development, he noted that both have deteriorated simultaneously in recent times.

"A persistent threat to development is that perennial disruptor of peace - terrorism," he stated, adding, "It is imperative that the world display neither tolerance nor accommodation to terrorist activities." As the world faces conflict, economic pressures, and terrorism, the limitations of multilateralism and the United Nations have become apparent, according to Jaishankar.

"The need for reforming multilateralism has never been greater," he remarked, further stating that the current international situation is volatile both politically and economically.

"We as members of G20 have a particular responsibility to strengthen its stability and give it a more positive direction that is best done by undertaking dialogue and diplomacy, by firmly combating terrorism, and by appreciating the need for stronger energy and economic security."

Regarding peace and global development, he pointed out that ongoing conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and Gaza, have clearly demonstrated the costs, especially to the Global South, in terms of energy, food, and fertilizer security.

"Apart from jeopardizing supplies and logistics, access and cost themselves became pressure points on nations. Double standards are clearly in evidence," he observed.

Jaishankar emphasized that while peace enables development, threatening development cannot facilitate peace.

He stated that creating uncertainty around energy and other essentials in an economically fragile situation benefits no one, and called for moving toward dialogue and diplomacy, "not in the opposite direction towards further complications".

In conflict situations, there are few who have the ability to engage both sides, and such countries can be utilized by the international community to achieve and maintain peace, he suggested. "So even as we attempt to address complex threats to peace, the value of encouraging a buy-in from those supportive of such goals should be appreciated," he concluded.