India says it had 'major influence' on G20 counter-terror discussions

People arrive for the G20 agriculture ministers meeting in Berlin, Germany, January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke - RTSWSDN

India said today that it had "a major influence" on counter-terrorism discussions at the G20 Summit here with Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the key issue with European leaders.

"India had a major influence on counter terrorism discussions at the G20 and also played a significant role in talks on trade and investment, migration and climate change," Arvind Panagariya, sherpa for India at the Summit, said at a media briefing.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said counter-terrorism measures remained in focus during all discussions prime minister Modi had with European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the G20 Summit.

Modi has been raising the issue of combating terrorism in all his meetings recently with European leaders in the wake of a spate of terror attacks that have struck European countries like Germany, France, the UK and Sweden recently.

Pledging a joint crackdown on the global scourge of terrorism and to check its funding sources, G20 leaders, including Modi, yesterday said all terror safe havens must be eliminated in every part of the world. In a joint declaration on countering terrorism on the first day of the G20 Summit here, they resolved to facilitate swift and targeted exchanges of information between intelligence, law enforcement and judicial authorities on operational information-sharing, preventive measures and criminal justice response.

Refering to the declaration, Panagariya said that the G20 nations' joint statement on fighting terror was to be an annexure to the G20 declaration but India pitched for it to be a separate statement.

Modi, who was a lead speaker on the theme of terrorism at the Leaders Retreat at the G-20 Summit yesterday, had bracketed Pakistan-based terror groups like LeT and JeM with ISIS and al-Qaeda and made a strong pitch for global "deterrent" action against countries that support terrorism for their political goals.

Modi had presented a 11-point action plan to counter terror, including a ban on the entry of officials from terrorism-supporting countries into G-20 nations.