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Narayanan advocates world summit against terrorism

President K R Narayanan has called for a comprehensive international convention on terrorism to "signal the world's determination to fight this scourge of our times."

Speaking at a banquet hosted by French President Jacques Chirac in Paris, Narayanan said Monday night that religious imbalance, extremist fundamentalism and methods of violence and terrorism are entirely out of tune and place in a world where only an attitude of tolerance and peaceful co-existence could be relevant.

Referring to India's GDP growth rate of six per cent, the President said, "The genius of France holds enormous opportunities for meaningful cooperation in the fields of investment, trade and enterprise."

He called for joint efforts by the two countries to build a strong and multifaceted bilateral relationship.

Noting that the first-ever summit of the Indo-European Union will be held on June 28 in Lisbon, Portugal, Narayanan said it would be a milestone in New Delhi's relations with Europe and would help to institutionalise bilateral relationship for mutual benefit. He said India looked forward to working with France, especially as it would assume the presidency of the European Union from July.

The president said there was an urgent practical necessity to fashion a new world order in which no nation or class dominated or exploited another. ''A pluralistic world order characterised by harmony and cooperation among the different centres of power, free from the menace of world destruction'' was what Narayanan wanted.

The President said while France had once led to a greater understanding of India in the western world, India with its expanded cultural relations had now opened a window on France. There was need for India, France and the EU to embark upon a new voyage of cooperation, ''no less exciting than the earlier discoveries of the continents.''

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