Nuclear security must remain an abiding national priority, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday during a White House dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama that formally kicked off the two-day Nuclear Security Summit.
Modi was seated next to Obama during the White House dinner which was attended by the heads of more than 20 countries in Washington for the fourth edition of the summit.
Praising the US President for his initiative on nuclear security, Modi said Obama’s legacy must endure. “By putting spotlight on nuclear security, Obama has done great service to global security,” Modi said.
Citing the bomb blasts in Brussels, Modi said the attacks show how real and immediate the threat is to nuclear security from terrorism.
Outlining three contemporary features of terror that the world should focus on, Modi said today’s terrorism uses extreme violence as theatre. “Second, we are no longer looking for a man in a cave, but we are hunting for a terrorist in a city with a computer or a smart phone. Third, state actors working with nuclear traffickers and terrorists present the greatest risk,” he said.
Noting that terror has evolved, Modi said terrorists are using 21st century technology. “But our responses are rooted in the past,” he said. The reach and supply chains of terrorism are global, but genuine cooperation between nation states is not, Modi said.
“Drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that ‘his’ terrorist is not ‘my’ terrorist. “Terrorism is globally networked. But, we still act only nationally to counter this threat,” the PM told the international community.
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