India on Wednesday warned that if a state apparatus allows its territory to fawn terrorist activity and refuses to recognise its responsibility of bringing the terrorists to book, it is high time for the international community to bring such recalcitrant states to discipline by resorting to various international mechanisms.
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, while speaking at the ?Delhi Dialogue – I: Regional Security and Cooperation? said, to sustain the promise of progress in the region, the need for a peaceful environment was imperative.
At the two-day conference organised by Ficci in partnership with the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore and SAEA Group Research, Singapore, the minister declared. ??As the recent brutal terrorist attacks in Mumbai have shown, both India and the ASEAN will need to resolutely rebuff such evil attempts that strike at our common civilisational roots.??
Calling for farsightedness in handling the current economic crisis, he said, our linkages provide the basis for exploring regional financial arrangements, which will mitigate the growing risks from the current negative economic outlook.
In this context, he hailed the developments such as the India-Malaysia Capital Market Forum and the strengthening of the Chiang Mai initiative and the Asian bond market, given the currency reserves held by the countries of the region. ??I believe India will both benefit from and contribute to financial cooperation in Asia; it will meet our enormous demand for investment and will contribute towards relative stability of the exchange rate as also facilitate regional trade.??
Responding to the observations by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and president, Ficci, Mukherjee said, energy demand are going to grow in the emerging markets and in much of Asia. This requirement is complicated by price volatility, potential supply instability and rising energy costs.
??The Asean region has oil, gas, coal, hydro, bio-mass and geo-thermal resources. A carefully calibrated strategy can help our region to grow on an ecologically sustainable basis and through diversified economic and trade linkages which was the best way to cushion ourselves from the energy security point of view,?? he added.