India moots BRICS Security Forum to counter terrorism

Swraj, who is on a five-day trip to South Africa to attend BRICS foreign ministers' meeting, also expressed India's willingness to contribute towards enriching intra-BRICS cooperation further.

She will also chair a meeting of foreign ministers of IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa), another bloc working to deepen coordination among the three countries on major global issues.

Swaraj earlier discussed with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa enhanced engagement between the two countries and greater cooperation in areas of skill development, agriculture and information technology.

“Ours is one big global family. Co-existence and shared destiny are our common beliefs. I am confident that the visions of our great leaders such as Gandhi, Mandela, and Martin Luther will continue to guide us in our common endeavours,” Swraj said at the outset.

The BRICS foreign ministers customary meeting began on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2006. Ever since the forum had productive exchanges on global political affairs.

Swaraj reminded partners of the head-winds that multilateralism, international trade, and rules-based world order face today. “Though global growth has exhibited signs of recovery, the challenges to long-term growth continue to persist,”  she said, adding, “Ensuring that the benefits of globalization are shared widely remains a challenge.”

She said BRICS countries have contributed to global stability and growth in a world drifting towards uncertainty and have played an important role in shaping the global economic and political architecture.

She reminded leaders of the Xiamen BRICS summit where leaders gave a robust mandate on counter-terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call for a BRICS counter-terrorism strategy for joint-action with a focus on money laundering, terrorist-finance, cyber-space and de-radicalisation as priorities.

A meeting of national security advisors of BRICS had since deliberated on cooperation in strategic areas of security, counter-terrorism, UN reforms, peacekeeping, de-radicalisation, cyber security, energy security, global governance, and international and regional hot-spot issues.

“It is imperative now that the common ground reached in our NSAs meeting on setting up a BRICS Security Forum is implemented fully,” she said.