President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday said India is a victim of international terrorism and stressed on international co-ordination amongst "like-minded" countries to fight it.
Patil also said terrorism should not be associated with any religion and that it is a crime against
humanity.
"As victims of international terrorism, both India and Turkey, have a vital stake in eradicating this menace and threat to our democracies. We both firmly believe that terrorism is a crime against humanity and it should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or ethnic group," Patil said.
She was speaking at the banquet ceremony for Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his wife Hayrunnisa Gul at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Fighting terrorism at various levels requires active international co-ordination amongst like-minded countries. I
am happy that India and Turkey will work together in convincing others to come onboard for the early finalisation
in the UN of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, she added.
Talking about economic and commercial ties between both the countries, Patil said, "the volume of bilateral trade and investment remains much below the potential of our two economies."
She said both the countries, as members of G-20, are contributing to a new architecture for international economic and financial interaction.