Swaraj: BRICS must act against terror funding, money laundering

PRETORIA:External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday underlined that multilateralism, international trade and rules based world order was facing “strong head-winds” as she called for joint action by the BRICS nations against money laundering, terror financing and de-radicalisation.

From left: Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov (Russia), Sushma Swaraj (India), Lindiwe Sisulu (South Africa), Wang Yi (China) and Marcos Galvao (Brazil) hold hands at a BRICS meeting in Pretoria on Monday. AFP

Pretoria, June 4

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday underlined that multilateralism, international trade and rules based world order was facing “strong head-winds” as she called for joint action by the BRICS nations against money laundering, terror financing and de-radicalisation.

Swaraj, who is on a five-day trip to South Africa, attended the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Foreign Ministers’ meeting. It was held to lay the foundation for the annual summit of the grouping in Johannesburg next month, which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Our deliberations here will contribute towards enriching intra-BRICS cooperation further,” Swaraj said.

India attaches importance to the role of BRICS in consolidating intra-BRICS cooperation and in international affairs, she was quoted as saying by a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Swaraj called for joint action of the BRICS nations against challenges to long-term growth.

“Our meeting today takes place at a time when multilateralism, international trade, and rules based world order face strong head-winds,” Swaraj said.

“Though, the global growth has exhibited signs of recovery, the challenges to long-term growth continue to persist. Ensuring that the benefits of globalisation are shared widely remains a challenge,” she added.

“Prime Minister 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 our priorities,” Swaraj said.

“Our leaders have also called for making UN counter-terrorism framework efficient and effective. We reiterate our commitment to implement our leaders’ mandate on counter-terrorism under South Africa’s BRICS Chairship,” she said.

Later addressing a press conference, Swaraj said the nations discussed the need to further strengthen cooperation in the areas of security and countering-terrorism.

“I am sure the deliberations we have had in today’s meeting will be further taken forward in the forthcoming BRICS Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg next month,” she said.— PTI