June 14, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429

TOKYO, June 13: The Group of Eight justice ministers and security chiefs vowed on Friday to help developing countries improve their legal systems to boost the global battle against terrorism.

They concluded a three-day meeting on Friday ahead of their leaders’ summit on July 7-9 in Toyako, a lakeside resort on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

“To fight terrorism or other organised crimes, not only the G8 and developed countries but all countries must have sufficient coping capability,” Japanese Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama told a joint news conference.

“If some countries are weak in legal systems or investigation capability, their loopholes would be taken advantage of,” Hatoyama said.

Japan’s police chief Shinya Izumi told the conference: “Needless to say, we must keep paying special attention to the threat of international terrorist organisations, such as Al Qaeda.”

The eight countries said in a statement that they were committed to “providing assistance within the scope of our authority” to developing nations.

A joint statement by the eight nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States —warned that terrorist groups were seeking to expand their influence.

“Terrorist organisations which had primarily been active in a domestic context have now received support from international terrorist organisations,” it said.

“These developments not only increase the threat of terrorism in these regions but also point to the expanding global influence of terrorist organisations,” it added.

The G8 countries expressed ‘strong support’ for the governments of Afghanistan and Colombia in their fight against illicit drug cultivation, saying the proceeds were often used to fund terrorism.

They also agreed to continue their fight against sexual exploitation of children and to step up work on forming networks so that G8 authorities can share intelligence.—AFP