Rajnath Singh attends SAARC ministers meet

In his opening remarks during the meeting, the Union Home Minister stressed India’s commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous South-Asian neighbourhood.

He emphasized the commitment of the present Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving primacy to improving India’s relations with all SAARC neighbours.

Singh underlined that terrorism is a major issue of concern for the region.

"This is driven by internal, regional as well as international factors. Further, groups with radical and extremist ideologies pose threats across national boundaries in the volatile security environment," Singh said.

He also mentioned that India is carefully assessing the impact of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan on the entire South Asian region.

The Home Minister expressed concern about the new threats of extremism, terrorism, violence emerging in this region.

The Union Home Minister also stressed that Government of India is committed to securing justice for the families of the victims of deadly terrorist strikes like the killings during the terrorist attack in Mumbai in November 2008.

Singh referred to the problems that India is facing due to drug smuggling particularly in Punjab, money laundering, terrorist funding, Cyber Crime, human Trafficking and illegal movement of arms across National boundaries.

Linked to this issue is the increasing circulation of counterfeit currency in India’s neighborhood.

The Home Minister further stated that the menace of terrorism, drug abuse, drug trafficking etc. can be best fought if we share our experiences at the operational level.

He proposed to establish a SAARC Centre for Good Governance where officers from all member countries can come together to exchange their experiences on good governance.