G20 leaders to discuss terrorism separately at Hamburg summit

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Like in the case of Antalya, Turkey, last year, where a standalone statement on terrorism apart from the usual joint declaration was issued, leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are going to discuss the issue of counter-terrorism at a separate retreat at the 12th G20 Summit in Hamburg next month, a senior official said on Thursday.

Briefing the media here ahead of Modi's visit, Alok Dimri, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said the summit on July 7-8 has been divided into two components with the first devoted to a leaders' retreat on July 7 morning that will see the heads of state and government informally interacting with each other.

Dimri said the retreat, that would last for around two hours. would be on the subject of countering terrorism which aligned with Modi's approach in his meetings with world leaders "with the central thrust on countering terrorism".

"You would recall that at the Antalya G20 Summit also there was a standalone joint statement by the G20 leaders on counter-terrorism," he said.

"So, perhaps this could be a second occasion where the leaders of G20 will sit down and in a dedicated manner address the issue of counter-terrorism."

Stating that the second component will be divided into four sessions, including two over a working lunch, Dimri said: "Broadly these will be on growth and trade, sustainable development, climate and energy, partnership with Africa, migration, health, women , digitalisation and employment."

This time, the German Presidency is organising the summit on the three pillars of stability, sustainability and responsibility with the theme of "Shaping an Interconnected World".

Dimri said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's two key areas of focus are development of Africa and digitalisation.

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