Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Malaysia to attend the ASEAN summit, underscored his message on controlling terror while addressing the Indian diaspora. Earlier today, he addressed the East Asia Summit, where he spoke of a five-point programme that would make Asia the driving force of this century.
Here are the latest developments:
"Terrorism is the biggest threat to the world today. It knows no boundary, uses religion but kills people of all faith," PM Modi said. "We have to delink religion from terror. The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not."
Earlier, at the East Asia Summit, PM Modi said terrorism is no longer a peripheral problem for southeast Asia. There should be a global resolve and new strategies to combat terror without reference to "political considerations," he said.
Defining his vision for what he called an "Asian Century", PM Modi enumerated five elements that can help bring it about. This, he said would include cooperation in the areas of security, economy, cyber security, development and seeing the ocean as a "pathway to peace and prosperity".
US President Barack Obama said his government will do everything needed to destroy ISIS but added, "We must uphold values of tolerance as prejudice and discrimination help ISIS."
The Prime Minister, who reached Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, attended the 13th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-India Summit and then the 10th East Asia Summit. His last official engagement on Sunday was a reception given in his honour by the Indian High Commissioner.
This morning, the leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations signed the Kuala Lumpur declaration on the "formal establishment of the Asean Community". A milestone in the process of regional integration, this will be formally inaugurated on December 31.
PM Modi also unveiled a statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Kuala Lumpur Ram Krishna Mission, PM saying, "Vivekananda is not just a name. He personifies the thousands-year-old Indian culture and civilization."
On Monday, he would leave for Singapore, where he will attend a breakfast meeting with businessmen and meet the Prime Minister of Singapore and other top leaders. India expects to conclude a strategic partnership with Singapore, one of her largest investors.
On Tuesday, he would address the Indian diaspora. Singapore has approximately 3,50,000-strong Indian diaspora out of its total population of 5.5 million.
The two countries are also expected to sign an enhanced defence cooperation pact, along with other memorandums, including on cyber security, culture and training on urban management.
