LS Speaker Om Birla Affirms India’s Stance Against Terrorism at P20 Summit

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BI News,India: The two-day P20 Summit in New Delhi successfully concluded at the India International Convention Centre, Yashobhoomi, Delhi on 13-14 October, 2023.

The first-ever G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20 Summit) hosted by the world’s largest democracy concluded, with parliamentarians from across the world coming together and reaffirming their commitment to continue their joint work to make an effective and meaningful parliamentary contribution to the G20 process.

The summit included high-level sessions on topics such as Sustainable Development Goals, sustainable energy transition, women-led development, and public digital platforms. India hosted the summit under its G20 Presidency with the theme of Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future.

On the P20 Summit, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said 436 delegates including presiding officers of 27 nations and 49 members of parliament participated in the two-day summit held at Yashobhoomi here.

Further, he said that he told his G20 counterparts that India does not support terrorism or terror activities in any form. Birla was responding to questions on the bilateral meetings he had with Speakers of G20 nations during the Parliament 20 Summit that concluded here on Saturday.

“The position of the government is very clear in this regard. The prime minister has also said it in his statement. The government has made it clear that terrorism and terror activities have no place in India,” the Lok Sabha speaker said while briefing reporters on the P20 Summit.

He was responding to a question on whether any Speaker from the G20 countries had raised the issue of presence of people in India who were pursuing separatist activities abroad.

“It is a clear government policy terrorism, be it of caste or religion terrorism is terrorism, and no form of terror will find any support in India. This is the clear government policy,” Birla said.

He went on to say that this was the maximum attendance at any P20 Summit so far and a consensus on the joint statement was a key highlight of the deliberations.
India hosted the ninth edition of the P20 Summit.

Birla added India also offered to set up an expert group on legislative drafting, an area where the Indian Parliament has considerable expertise and has organised training sessions for parliaments of several countries.