Russia, India Discuss Anti-Terror Struggle, Strategic Cooperation

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday discussed bilateral cooperation in fighting international terrorism.

The discussion also embraced military-technical and economic fields, with the two leaders vowing to make joint steps in anti-terror struggle and strategic issues.

According to Russian news agencies, at their meeting in the Kremlin, both leaders stated that terrorist acts cannot be justified by any political, ethnic, religious, social, economic or other considerations.

Russia and India agreed that strengthening regional and international security is of greatest significance. Both countries stand for preserving existing international accords in the spheres of arms control and disarmament, including the 1972 Russian-U.S. Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Terrorism is an absolute evil and represents a global challenge to the human being, which should be combated by common efforts, they stressed in a joint statement issued after their talks.

The two sides regard international terrorism as "threat to peace and security," said the statement. "Cooperation in struggle against terrorism is an imperative of present-day international life."

The two countries called for building a firm opposition to international terrorism "on a comprehensive and long-term basis," and completing as soon as possible the work within the United Nations to "draft a convention on struggle against acts of nuclear terrorism and a universal convention on international terrorism."

"The world community ran in Afghanistan into a problem of both global and regional nature," Putin said at a news conference after the meeting. He described India as "a reliable partner of Russia,"since "it has been fighting terrorism for long" and the two

countries' views are "virtually identical on a settlement in Afghanistan."

Putin said that major guidelines of the two states' foreign policies "actually coincide."








People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/