Keeping aside the South China Sea dispute, India, Russia, and China have agreed to support freedom of navigation and overflight rights using principles of international law in order to give maritime trade a boost.
This was reaffirmed at the recent Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China, or the RIC.
Chinese Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi along with his Russia counterpart Sergei Lavrov met Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj as a part of it.
A joint communique issued by the countries in the aftermath of the meeting said that recognizing the importance of maritime trade, the countries would “support freedom of navigation and overflight rights” based on established international principle especially UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Freedom of navigation And Tackling Terrorism Important
The statement takes on importance since freedom of navigation has been under threat with China ignoring a verdict by The Hague Tribunal with regards to the South China Sea imbroglio.
India has asserted adherence to international maritime law ever since the South China Sea dispute intensified this year.
With respect to the issue of terrorism, the joint statement asked for the “swift and effective” implementation of various international commitments regarding tackling of terrorism including related UN Security Council resolutions , the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the FATF International Standards among others.
Swaraj stated that she had expressed her view that rising terrorism from outfits like terrorist organisations like Daesh (ISIS), Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and LeT “directly undermine” international peace and weaken efforts to strengthen the global economy.
She further stated that a comprehensive policy on countering global needs to be developed which should cover areas like extremism, preventing recruitment of terrorists, stopping terror financing , dismantling terrorist infrastructure and countering terrorist propaganda spread through the internet, among other things.
RIC Welcomes Agreement With Iran
In another important decision, the RIC Foreign Ministers applauded the beginning of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that has been entered into by E3/EU+3 and Iran in 2015 with respect to Iran’s nuclear programme.
The communique applauded that the “complex issue was resolved through diplomatic means”, strengthening “regional and global security as well as nuclear non-proliferation”.
The nations added they were in “readiness to exert all efforts” to support the “sustainable implementation “ of the agreement and in engaging with Iran in “normal economic and political cooperation”.
