G20 meet to focus on delegitimising cross-border terror: Jaishankar

The focus of the G-20 meet under the presidentship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be to fight cross-border terrorism.

"The summit will focus on delegitimising cross-border terrorism," said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

He was speaking at an interaction programme with intellectuals and students at the JSS campus here on Sunday.

"Many countries are facing the problem of cross-border terrorism and we have to be firm on delegitimising this menace," he said.

He said India has been a non-permanent member of UN Security Council (UNSC) for almost 16 years. With the country now emerging as an economic superpower, it will soon get permanent membership.

Due to some vested interests, India has been denied the berth, despite having all credentials, the minister said.

"While several developed countries are facing economic distress, India is emerging as an economic superpower. Hence, UNSC will be compelled to provide permanent membership to India," he said.

Deliberating on the Khalistan movement, Jaishankar sought to play down the issue, saying it is no threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity.

"The recent attacks on Indian Embassies in Canada, San Francisco, Australia and London will have an effect on the embassies of these countries in India. India will strongly react to the failure of these countries to provide security to the Indian Embassies," he warned.

In many developed countries, there is a demographic problem as demand for and supply of human resources don't match. These countries are looking at India for talent, he said. A big push has been given to ‘Make in India’ programme which has resulted in a reduction of defence imports. "India, a decade ago, was the biggest importer of defence equipment, and today the imports have been reduced by 36%," he said.