Mediterranean States Should Be Proactive In Anti-Terror Fight - Italian Defense Minister

Mediterranean States Should Be Proactive in Anti-Terror Fight - Italian Defense Minister

Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta on Thursday praised the herculean efforts the international community is making to combat terrorism, noting that the Mediterranean states should assume a proactive role in fighting jihadists.

ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2018) Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta on Thursday praised the herculean efforts the international community is making to combat terrorism, noting that the Mediterranean states should assume a proactive role in fighting jihadists.

"It [terrorism] has caused a threat to our daily life and a persistent damage to our economies. Under such conditions, the international community has taken a very firm stance and has obtained encouraging results in its fight against Daesh [Islamic State terror group, banned in Russia]. It is equally important that the Mediterranean countries be the first ones that take upon themselves a proactive role in fighting international terrorism," Trenta said at the Mediterranean dialogues (MED) forum in Rome.

Islamic terrorism is a transnational phenomenon that needs to be addressed by the international community as soon as possible, the minister stressed.

The fourth edition of the annual MED forum, organized by the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), kicked off in Italy's Rome on Thursday and will last through Saturday. MED-2018, as all previous forums, aims at drafting a "positive agenda" for the Mediterranean region by stimulating debate and promoting new ideas, rethinking traditional approaches and addressing shared challenges at both the regional and the international level.