New Delhi: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Islamabad, listed out terrorism, extremism, and separatism as obstacles that hinder the growth of trade cooperation in areas like energy and connectivity.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan, Jaishankar further stated the cooperation should be based on mutual respect. He also stressed on sovereign equality and respect for territorial integrity of nations, a message indirectly aimed at China.
“It is axiomatic that development and growth requires peace and stability. And as the Charter spelt out, this means being firm and uncompromising in countering the ‘three evils’. If activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel,” he said.
He said trust is the key to cooperation and it can help the SCO to move collectively. “It should recognise territorial integrity and sovereignty. It must be built on genuine partnerships, not unilateral agendas. It cannot progress if we cherry-pick global practices, especially of trade and transit,” he said.
“It requires honest conversation, trust, good neighbourliness and reaffirming commitment to SCO Charter,” he asserted.
The External Affairs Minister is leading the Indian delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit in Islamabad, which was chaired by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Earlier, Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri, a former Pakistani Foreign Minister, described Jaishankar’s trip to Pakistan as a positive step, suggesting it could ease the tension between the two countries.
Before setting out for Pakistan, Jaishankar had dismissed the likelihood of bilateral talks. His assertions on Wednesday that nations can’t cooperate with each other in the background of terrorism, extremism, and separatism underscored India’s firm stance on talks.
