On Board Special Aircraft: Terming terrorism as pandemic, Vice President Hamid Ansari today said that the issue figured prominently during his talks with the top leadership of Brunei and Thailand.
On his way back home after concluding his five-day visit to the two countries, Ansari told reporters accompanying him that, “Unavoidably we have reached a stage today where terrorism is a subject of discussion in all conversations whether it is Americas, Europe, West Asia, East Asia, South Asia or Southeast Asia.
“Every country is in one way or the other facing the threat of terrorism. Terrorism is on everybody’s agenda.”
He added that terrorism has “become a pandemic and a security hazard that travels across frontiers”.
The Vice President said the visits to these two important ASEAN member countries happened after a long gap and in “both the places, discussions were positive and the signal given was that they are keen to further strengthen relationships with India”.
“The chemistry was right and the responses very positive,” he said, adding “we talked about one set of things in Brunei and another set of things in Thailand.”
Ansari termed his talks with Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as “very productive”. He highlighted three big takeaways.
“We have some permanent interest as far as Thailand is concerned. Maritime security is a critical area in which both the countries have interests and it is important in all its dimensions not only to keep sea lanes open but also available for emerging trends in commercial traffic. Besides it is also important to protect sea lanes from conventional and non-conventional traffic.”
PTI