National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called for decisive action against terrorism and said there cannot be double standards in the fight against it. Addressing an international security forum in Russia, Mr Doval said responsible nations have to evaluate their choices and decide whether they support sponsors of terrorism or counter them with decisive action. In a social media post, the Indian Embassy in Moscow said Mr Doval participated in the first International Security Forum and the 14th Meeting of High Representatives for Security Matters in Moscow.

 

The meeting, hosted by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, deliberated on the ‘Challenges and Threats to International Security in the context of the Emergence of the Multipolar World’. Mr Doval also highlighted the urgent need for reforms in the structures and institutions set up after the end of the Second World War in 1945 to make them effective in dealing with contemporary international security threats.

 

The reforms must give greater representation to and factor in the views of the Global South, he added. Referring to the situation in West Asia, Mr Doval was quoted as saying it was essential to ensure the safe and uninterrupted movement of trade through international waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. On the sidelines of the forum, Mr Doval held a meeting with his Russian counterpart Shoigu, the Indian Embassy said in another post. During the meeting, the parties reviewed the current state of cooperation in the areas of defence, security, energy, and trade-economic ties, it said.