Ansari to discuss cross border terror with Hungarian, Algerian

Vice President Hamid Ansari will raise with Hungary and Algeria the issue of cross border terrorism affecting India amid the going tension with Pakistan in the wake of the Uri attack and surgical strikes carried out by Indian Army in terror launch pads.
Ansari will embark on a four-day visit to Hungary and Algeria tomorrow.
"Absolutely. This will be the major theme in all his (Vice-President) bilateral talks," Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Sujata Mehta told reporters here when asked whether Ansari will raise the issue of cross border terrorism with the leaders of the two countries.
Mehta said "terrorism will be a major item in both Hungary and Algeria".

She said terrorism is not new for Algeria and it has fought a very difficult terror group in the recent past.
"There will be meetings of minds to fight terrorism with all his interlocutors and counterparts in both the countries," she said.

During the visit, Mehta said, Ansari will have bilateral meetings with Presidents of Hungary and Algeria, Prime Minister of Hungary and Speakers of national assembly.
She said the high-level visit to Hungary comes after more than two decades when the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma had visited the central European country in 1993.
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in 2001.

While around 50 Indian companies are operating in Hungary and have made their base to expand their businesses in other European countries, bilateral trade between India and Algeria stood at 1.5 billion per annum, majority of which are related to importing oil and oil products to India.