BELEK (Turkey) • World leaders promised to tighten border controls, step up intelligence sharing and crack down on terrorist financing at a summit in Turkey yesterday, but there was little sign of a dramatic shift in strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The Group of 20 (G-20) Summit in Turkey's coastal province of Antalya has been dominated by Friday's attacks across Paris, which killed 129 people and underlined the threat posed by the militant group far beyond its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The two-day summit brought together leaders including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin just 500km from Syria, whose 41/2-year conflict has transformed ISIS into a global security threat and spawned Europe's largest migration crisis since World War II.
Concerned about the "acute and growing flow of foreign terrorist fighters", G-20 leaders said in a statement they had agreed to step up border controls and aviation security. They condemned the Paris attacks as "heinous" and said they remained committed to tackling terrorist financing.
Separately in their final communique, the leaders also addressed the refugee crisis. "We call upon all states to contribute to responding to this crisis, and share in the burdens associated with it."
The leaders also said they remained committed to a goal of lifting their collective output by an additional 2 per cent by 2018, even though growth remains uneven and weaker than expected globally.
"Our top priority is timely and effective implementation of our growth strategies that include measures to support demand and structural reforms," they said.
China will host next year's G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, capital of coastal Zhejiang province, on Sept 4-5.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA