Andrey Krushinsky: Foreign ministers reach consensus on anti-terrorism stance

Foreign ministers attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministerial Meeting on Thursday reached consensus today on anti-terrorism during their working breakfast hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

Following are the key points of their consensus

- All manners of terrorist activities pose threat to the international peace and security and should be sternly condemned and fought against. The International community should take an identical stance on the issue;

- All anti-terrorist international covenants and resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council should be earnestly implemented, in particular, any acts of financing terrorism should be prevented and prohibited and all terrorists should be dealt with according to law;

- It is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and give full play to the role of the United Nations and its Security Council in combating terrorism;

- Anti-terrorism is a just-vs-evil struggle and a show of strength of civilization against barbarianism rather than a conflict among different ethnic groups, religions or cultures.

APEC foreign ministers believe that dialogue, accommodation and cooperation among different civilizations should be promoted.

In the words from Tang Jiaxuan, the foreign ministers will present a report on those coordinated positions to the unofficial summit of APEC members, which will take place October 20-21.

As Xinhua news agency reported, the major, most awaited participants of the summit are President Putin, American President George W. Bush and the “host” of the meeting – the chairman of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Zemin. All these world leaders have already arrived in Shanghai to partake in the summit of APEC foreign and economy ministers.

Andrey Krushinsky PRAVDA.Ru Beijing

AP photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for photographers with a local girl who presented him with flowers Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001