New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India will contribute USD 500,000 to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year to aid capacity-building support to member states in combating terrorism. He made this announcement during his keynote address at the plenary session of the UNSC special meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC ) on `Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes` in New Delhi today. Addressing the UNSC`s special meeting in the national capital, Jaishankar said, "India will be making a voluntary contribution of half a million dollars to the UN Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year to augment the efforts of Office of Counter-Terrorism in providing capacity-building support to member states in preventing and countering the threat of terrorism."


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In his address, minister Jaishankar highlighted the global threat of terrorism is growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, despite the UN Security Council`s (UNSC) best efforts to combat the "gravest threat to humanity". 


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"Terrorism remains the gravest threat to humanity. The UN Security Council in the past two decades has evolved an important architecture built, primarily around the counter-terrorism sanctions regime to combat this menace. This has been very effective in putting the countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a state-funded enterprise," he said.



"Despite this, the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, as successive reports of 1267 sanctions committee monitoring reports have highlighted," he added. India is hosting the two-day anti-terrorism meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The ongoing meeting in Delhi is being held under India`s chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC).


Jaishnkar told CTC members that their presence in Delhi at the special meeting demonstrates the importance that the UNSC member states and a wide range of stakeholders, place on this critical and emerging facet of terrorism. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) said that UNSC members, including the 15 present and 5 incoming, leading experts from the UN`s operational partners and specialized agencies come together to discuss threats posed by the use of technologies for terrorist purposes.


"The Special Meeting opened with a Plenary Session that saw remarks by FMs of Gabon, Ghana, India and UK, deputy FMs of Albania and UAE as well as senior UN officials," MEA tweeted."To be followed by thematic briefings on the misuse of three focus technologies: Information and Communication Technologies New payment technologies and fundraising methods Unmanned aircraft systems, including drones," the ministry added.