International Relations: RIC foreign ministers to discuss concerns on terrorism, drugs

Source: IRNA

New Delhi, Nov 8, IRNA -- Concerns over terrorism and drug trafficking and Afghanistan will figure prominently when the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) hold a meeting here on Sunday to discuss key regional and international issues.

The third round of meeting of foreign ministers of RIC comes in the backdrop of evolving scenario in Middle East and North Africa and also the WTO meeting in Bali next month, therefore, issues relating to these are also expected to figure during the discussions, spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said hereThursday.

Concerns relating to terrorism, drug trafficking and cooperation in multilateral fora, in which all the three countries participate will be discussed among the key global and regional issues, he said.

He also said that Afghanistan was another issue in which all the three countries were interested and India has dialogue on the bilateral level with each of them.
So Afghanistan is an issue that will certainly figure in the meeting, he said.

The spokesperson said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will also hold separate bilateral meetings with his Russian and Chinese counterparts to discuss crucial issues of mutual interest.

The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers are among the 48 foreign ministers travelling to India for the ASEM (Asia-Europe) Foreign Ministers meet on November 11 and 12. Khurshid will have nearly 10 bilateral meetings on the margins of ASEM.

The spokesperson also said the RIC, which predates the BRICS (Brazil-Rusia-India-China-South Africa) meeting, will discuss the emergence of BRICS and its relevance in the present context.

Asked if the RIC meeting will also discuss the changing security architecture in the region, the spokesperson said security was one of the components of discussions among these countries.

On the discussion in WTO on food subsidy by the European Union and the US which was a big disadvantage to developing countries like India and Indonesia, the spokesperson said, We are confident that we will be able to forcefully defend our interests and articulate our concerns effectively.