G8 meet: Novel approach to tackle terror

Last Updated: Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 16:33

Zeenews Bureau

Ottawa: The G8 in its two-day meeting which started on Monday launched economic initiatives to work towards mitigation of terror in the Afghan-Pak border region.

The novel approach by the Group of Eight industrialised nations aims at dismantling the deep-rooted terror infrastructure present there.

At the meet in Canada, the foreign ministers emphasised yesterday the need to ameliorate border trade between the two countries in order to push up employment to discourage the youth from joining the Taliban brigade.

While the meet highlighted the need to speed up development efforts in the hotbed of global terror, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said that stability in the Afghan-Pakistan region was "critical for global security".

The meeting concludes today with a call for strong anti-Iran measures expected to be on the agenda.

A draft of the final communiqué also said the G8 remained open to dialogue with Tehran, which denies widespread western charges that it is seeking to make atomic weapons.

The document is the latest step in a campaign of pressure by many of the world's most powerful nations to force Iran to comply with demands from the U.N. Security Council and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

What is noteworthy is that the word "sanctions" is missing from the draft.

First Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 16:33