Terrorism should be addressed through international cooperation: Vice President

The Vice President, Shri M. Hamid Ansari being bid farewell by the Prime Minister of Tunisia, Mr. Habib Essid, in Tunis, Tunisia on June 03, 2016. 

Concludes five-day official visit to Morocco

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the terrorism should be addressed through international cooperation including bilateral efforts. He was interacting with the media delegation onboard Air India One on his way back to India from Tunisia after concluding the five-day visit to Morocco and Tunisia, today. The Vice President further said that the visit to Morocco and Tunisia was very fruitful and that had very good discussions with both countries on vast area of issues including terrorism.

With Tunisia, the Vice President said that both countries have agreed to rejuvenate the relationship and focus on areas which have been identified. There will be a sharper focus on these issues when the Tunisian Foreign Minister visits India later this year in a Joint Commission, he added. He further said that there is no difficulty in the political side as they are very supportive on international fora. 

The Vice President said that both countries are major victims of terrorism and they were absolutely in agreement that this menace could be addressed with international cooperation including bilateral discussions.

The Vice President said that during the visit, the focus was also on trade and technology and through Morocco and Tunisia, some of our new initiatives in Africa have received attention and certain triangular tie-ups could take place. All in all, the reception was very warm and friendly, he added.

Reacting to a question on terrorism, the Vice President said that each country has to fight its own battle on terrorism because terrorism is 'international'. Counter terrorism should also have its international dimensions and sharing the information on a timely basis is critical, he added.

On a question on the unemployment in these countries, the Vice President said that they are very much aware that their young people are having university degrees and there are no jobs. There is a complete disconnect between academic qualification and the requirements of the job market, he added. He further said that our contribution can be doing more business with them and offer more employment as there are some Indian companies doing well there. These countries have a great potential and also a role to play in developing tourism, he added.