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Terror, religious extremism shouldn't be allowed to flourish in Asia: PM

Sujit Chatterjee in Almaty

In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday asserted that terrorism and religious extremism should not be allowed to flourish in Asia even as India and Kazakhstan decided to set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) to combat the menace.

The two countries also signed two other agreements - on cooperation in fields of defence and tourism, in the presence of Vajpayee and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Vajpayee, who held wide-ranging talks with Nazarbaev at the President's Palace in Almaty, told reporters that the Kazakh leader 'fully understood' India's concerns and the tensions in South Asia created by cross-border terrorism.

"We have the same perspectives on firmly countering international terrorism. We have agreed to set up a JWG for cooperation against terrorism," the Prime Minister said adding that the 16-nation security conference would issue a declaration on Tuesday condemning international terrorism.

Vajpayee, who held a 35-minute conversation with Nazarbaev without aides followed by delegation level parleys, said "Our military-technical cooperation should expand beyond a buyer-seller relationship into transfer of technology and research and development."

The prime minister and the Kazakh leader identified four other major sectors - oil and gas, Information Technology, pharmaceuticals and small-scale industries - for cooperation between the two countries.

Vajpayee also voiced deep appreciation for Kazakhstan's support for a permanent seat for India in the United Nations Security Council.

Later at a luncheon hosted by Nazarbaev in Vajpayee's honour, the prime minister appealed to the crucial Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures (CICA) to issue a strong warning to countries involved in sponsoring terrorism.

Speaking in Hindi, Vajpayee said the roots of terrorism were 'deep and wide-spread' and unfortunately nation-states were also involved in sponsoring the menace.

Money generated from trade in narcotic drugs and illicit weapons by powerful cartels and certain countries were being used to sponsor terrorism, he asserted.

"Today there is a greater need for cooperation among countries as there is no corner in the world which is safe," he said.

On Indo-Kazakh economic cooperation, the prime minister said New Delhi was prepared to make a major investment in the oil and gas sector in Kazakhstan, which has 20 billion tones of oil reserves and has found fresh deposits in Caspian Sea basin.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who is scheduled to arrive in Almaty on Monday, would also be attending the CICA summit.

Vajpayee and Musharraf are scheduled to separately hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Tuesday.

PTI

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