NEW DELHI: At the conclusion of the 13th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit on Thursday, the leaders adopted a “New Delhi Declaration”, which has called for maintaining peace and upholding human rights in Afghanistan. The declaration also condemned the terrorist attacks near the Hamid Karzai Kabul International Airport that resulted in many deaths last month.
“We follow with concern the latest developments in Afghanistan. We call for refraining from violence and settling the situation by peaceful means. We stress the need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue, so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in the country,” said the declaration.
The New Delhi Declaration welcomed adoption of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan for the implementation of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
The virtual summit was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who highlighted the situation in Afghanistan and said the country should not become a “threat to its neighbouring countries, a source of drug trafficking and terrorism”.
‘’We underscore the priority of fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as terrorist sanctuary and to carry out attacks against other countries, as well as drug trade within Afghanistan,” the statement said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also spoke at the summit, raised the issue of Afghanistan and said that it should not become a threat to its neighbouring countries, a source of terrorism and drug trafficking. “The citizens of Afghanistan have fought for decades and deserve the right to define what they will look like. I am sure that we can ensure development and co-existence while maintaining traditions," Putin said.
The BRICS emphasised that the international community has a collective responsibility to work together against the COVID-19 pandemic in the true spirit of partnership within existing international frameworks including the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The BRICS nations also stressed the importance of international efforts on mutual recognition of national documents of vaccination against COVID-19 and respective testing, especially for purpose of international travel.
