Even as there was another attack hot on heels of the Paris massacre, close to where the G20 was happening in Turkey, the discussions in the summit focused primarily on terrorism.
World leaders raised the alarm over an escalating international movement of “foreign terrorist fighters” in a draft statement drawn up Sunday at a summit in Turkey after the Paris assaults claimed by Islamic State jihadists.
Heads of the Group of 20 top world economies said they would share intelligence, track border crossings and boost aviation security to prevent international travel by “terrorists”, without identifying the Islamic State group or any other specific threat.
“We are concerned over the acute and growing flow of foreign terrorist fighters and the threat it poses for all states,” the G20 chiefs said in a draft statement obtained by AFP a day ahead of its formal adoption at their meeting in the Turkish Mediterranean resort of Antalya.
“We are resolved to address this threat,” they said.
Leaders said they were determined to counter violent extremism, recruitment and to prevent “terrorists” from exploiting technology, including the Internet.
“The direct or indirect encouragement of terrorism, the incitement of terrorist acts and glorification of violence must be prevented,” they added.
The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one of the Paris attackers has raised fears that some of the assailants might have entered Europe as part of the huge influx of people fleeing Syria’s civil war.
Greek and Serbian authorities have confirmed the passport belonged to a man who registered as a refugee in October on the island of Leros and applied for asylum in Serbia a few days later.
It is now known that three of the suicide bombers were French nationals, but two of the men had lived in the Belgian capital Brussels.
(with inputs from AFP)