Dushanbe: India on Monday asked countries in
the region to take "urgent, proactive measures" to cooperate
and eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to
ensure that these forces do not derail the processes of
progress and prosperity.
President Pratibha Patil, who is in Tajikistan on a
three-day state visit, conveyed India's concerns about
terrorist threats during talks with her Tajik counterpart
Emomali Rahmon, which also covered a wide-ranging cooperation
in the field of education, culture, investment and enhanced
business transactions.
She also sought the Central Asian nation's support in
eliminating terrorism from the region.
"Our region is today beset by the menace of terrorism.
Terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism are posing a serious
threat to the peace and secuity in our region, be it India,
Afghanistan, or Tajikistan," Patil said.
Observing that the 26/11 attacks were one more
manifestation of terrorism in the region, she said it was
imperative that all governments of the region take "urgent,
proactive measures to cooperate and eliminate terrorism in all
its forms and manifestations, so that these forces do not
derail the processes of progress and prosperity".
"We value the support of Tajikistan in the fight
against terrorism," she said in a statement.
India and Tajikistan are together in the fight against
the Taliban in Afghanistan, and New Delhi believes that
concerted efforts between the two nations against terrorism
and extremism would contribute greatly to peace and stability
in the region.
Patil, the first Indian President to visit the Central
Asian Region, said her talks with the Tajik leadership were
"extremely useful" and covered issues of bilateral, regional
and international importance.
She would be participating in the Independence Day
celebrations of Tajikistan, a rare honour given to a foreign
dignitary, tomorrow.
Describing that the Central Asian Region as "our
extended neighbourhood" and Dushanbe was geographically close
to Delhi, she said "the Central Asian Region figures very high
in our foreign policy priorities".
The President said New Delhi considered itself to be a
partner in Dushanbe's quest for improving the skills and
qualifications of its people.
Noting that over the years, India provided training
and participation for candidates from Tajikistan in various
human resource development programmes in various fields, she
said "we propose to continue doing so".
Patil also invited the Tajik President to visit India
again soon to take forward many of the new ideas for bilateral
cooperation that they had discussed.
Patil also assured India's support in the field of
information technology, entrepreneurial skills, defence
training, English language and management.
India's ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic
Cooperation) programme offered short-term training programmes
in these and other fields to about 100 candidates from
Tajikistan and also undertook several small scale
developmental and human resource projects in the region.
Tajikistan is one of the largest beneficiaries of the
ITEC programme.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 07, 2009, 13:59