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India, EU fail to reach FTA, focus shifts from boosting trade ties to creating JWG on terror | Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's daylong visit
here to take part in the 11th India-European Union Summit was originally aimed at how best to enhance and broaden trade ties between the two sides, but surprisingly,
there was a shift in the pre-determined narrative, and the focus moved onto international
terrorism, and how India, which has faced the brunt of this menace, could provide
the expertise to counter it. When Dr. Singh departed for Brussels, it was a given
in Indian media circles that New Delhi had put all drawing pins in place to seal
a much awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union, but going by
the Joint Statement and the Joint Declaration on International Terrorism issued
after the summit, the signing of an FTA with the EU continues to remain a distant
goal, has fallen apart, and is unlikely to see the light of day before the middle
of 2011. Both sides felt the need to specifically and prominently highlight their
respective stances on the serious threat posed by international terrorism, and
determined that it is essential to establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) or a
Joint Terror Mechanism (JTM) to tackle the challenge head on. On Friday, both
India and the European Union acknowledged that international terrorism is "one
of the most serious" threats in the world and denounced those who sponsor it.
Both India and the European Union have been targets of global terrorists in the
recent past. In Europe, there was the July 7, 2005 explosion in the underground
tube service in London that claimed over 50 lives and in March 11, 2004, there
was the Atocha train station bombings near Madrid, Spain, that killed 191 people
and wounded over 2,000 others. In India, the city of Mumbai was subjected to a
terror strike in November 2008 that claimed 166 lives and left over 300 injured.
Though Pakistan was not directly mentioned in the Joint Declaration on International
Terrorism on Friday, both sides have acknowledged indirectly that the terror trail
leads back to that country's lawless tribal badlands, as the antecedents of most
attackers targetting the subcontinent and Europe, invariably suggests that they
have received training in Pakistan with the objective of spreading mayhem around
the world as part of a holy cause. However, there is confusion in acknowledging
terror emanating from Afghanistan. It is a different ballgame when it comes to
Afghanistan, as each nation's pre-determined biases and assessments surface. When
it comes to Afghanistan, more often than not, the ravages of a prolonged civil
war and debilitating underdevelopment are cited as key factors fanning terrorism
or insurgency, and not so much the idea of a holy war. On Friday, India and the
EU underlined that both would cooperate in combating international terrorism,
including cross border terrorism, and said it would be one of the key political
priorities in their partnership. They reiterated their commitments to enhance
counter terrorism cooperation, as contained in the 2005 EU-India Joint Action
Plan, as well as in the 2009 EU-India Summit Declaration. Both sides also said
that their strategic partnership is rooted in shared values and in the principles
of democracy, pluralism, constitutional and legal rights and freedoms, and the
rule of law. It was also agreed that they would attach importance to counter terrorism
cooperation in the framework of United Nations and share a commitment to universal
ratification and full implementation of all UN Counter Terrorism conventions.
They also reaffirmed their conviction that the proposed Comprehensive Convention
on International Terrorism should become a vital component of the international
legal framework against terrorism, and to intensify efforts to bring negotiations
to a successful conclusion.
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