Friday’s violence on the streets of Paris added fresh urgency to the scheduled talks on terror, a key theme on the agenda at the two-day Group of 20 Summit starting Sunday in Antalya, Turkey. As world leaders congregate in this Turkish resort town, the attacks in Paris and global efforts aimed at crackdown on terrorism will take center stage.
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies (G20), including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Canada, Australia and Brazil will discuss climate change and global cooperation to unearth black money but the talks are set to be dominated by attacks in Paris and the war in Syria, said official sources.
The G20 leaders are scheduled to discuss terrorism and migration meet at a working dinner on Sunday but, following the Paris attacks, the deliberations could be moved forward if such a proposal is moved the Turkish presidency, said official sources. A statement on fighting terrorism will be issued after the dinner, news agency Reuters reported, quoting Russian officials.
Following the attacks, French President Francois Hollande canceled his visit to Turkey, where was to take part in the Summit. US President Obama, who will arrive here late on Saturday, however, is expected to seek support for his administration’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State in the Middle East and bring a negotiated end to the civil war in Syria. The host country of Turkey has also pressed for a discussion at the Summit on the conflicts in Syria and the worst migrant crisis since World War II.
Modi likely to raise terror issue
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the scheduled lead speaker at the Summit’s inaugural session on Sunday morning, on the theme of Development and Climate Change, is also expected to raise issues related to terrorism in his statement, said a source in the Indian delegation. “India’s concerns are known…there can be no compromise on the issue of terror…India’s longstanding position is that there is no good or bad terror and all forms of terrorism are unacceptable and must be fought by the global community as well as each and every country,” the source told reporters. India has been the strongest voice at international forums for a very long time on the issues related to terrorism, he asserted.
On the discussions on the Islamic State, Prime Minister Modi would tell the G20 leaders that India does not support discussions on origin-specific terror, the source added.
“While we recognise the risks posed by terrorism and its great negative impact on economic development we must make our due response to that,” China’s Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyou told a press conference in Belek, southwest Turkey.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and are also expected to attend the summit among others.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbul, President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong had already arrived in Antalya for the summit at the time of sending this report.
