Brics backs Afghan-led peace process

NEW DELHI: Brics reaffirmed the importance of an Afghan-led, Afghan-controlled peace process and pledged to support such a process during the meeting of foreign ministers held in Rio de Janeiro this week.
India was represented by General VK Singh, who stood in for external affairs minister S Jaishankar earlier slated to participate in the meet.
The ministers interacting ahead of the Brics summit in November in Brasilia that will see PM Narendra Modi in attendance, also condemned terrorism including "terror attacks in some Brics countries", without naming either India or Pakistan.
In a media statement, the Brics foreign ministers urged action against terror groups, recognised the "primary role" of countries in preventing and countering terrorism, including radicalisation, recruitment, the travel of foreign terrorist fighters, and blocking sources and channels of terrorist financing including, through organised crime by means of money-laundering.
The attendees, who besides General VK Singh included Wang Yi of China, Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Ernesto Araujo of Brazil, and South Africa's Naledi Pandor, also "reiterated support for international and national efforts to achieve an 'Afghan-led, Afghan-owned' peace and reconciliation process.
The ministers supported the work of the FATF "underscored the importance of improving mutual exchanges and data sharing. They emphasised the importance of upholding and supporting the objectives of FATF."
Briefing journalists before the meeting, Breno Hermann of the Brazilian embassy here (Brazil is the chair of Brics this year, to be followed by Russia) outlined Brics' priorities this year - they include cooperation, innovation, digital economy and fighting transnational crime. The summit will take place on November 13-14 in Brasilia.
The statement saw unanimous "support for multilateralism and the central role of the UN in international affairs, and the commitment to uphold the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. They reiterated the urgent need to strengthen and reform the multilateral system, including the UN, the WTO, the IMF, and other international organisations." However, there is no unanimity between Russia, China and Brazil on Venezuela, which is a hot topic in South America now. On Afghanistan too, Russia and China are supporting the Zalmay Khalilzad peace process and want to engage the Taliban, which India opposes.
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References

1. ^{^} Brics (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} VK Singh (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} S Jaishankar (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
4. ^{^} Brics summit (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
5. ^{^} Narendra Modi (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
6. ^{^} terrorism (www.speakingtree.in)
7. ^{^} FATF (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
8. ^{^} United Nations (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
9. ^{^} Afghanistan (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
10. ^{^} Taliban (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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