On Monday, India and Somalia agreed on the need to chalk out a common strategy to tackle the scourge of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

India’s External Affairs Minister met with Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister in New Delhi Tuesday.

Speaking after the conference, India’s External Affairs Minister says he’s discussed the fate of the more than fifty Indian hostages being held by Somali pirates.

[S. M. Krishna, Indian External Affairs Minister]:
“He (the Somali Deputy Prime Minister) has assured me that he would do everything possible to get the release and we hope that things would be able to be sorted out.”

Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister also weighed in.

[Abdirahman Ibbi, Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia]:
“This piracy has now become not only a Somali problem. It has now become a regional problem and it has also become an international problem. So the solution lies not only with Somalia, but also with the Indian government and the international community.”

Ibbi says piracy is an outcome of economic restlessness in Somalia, and that the governments of Somalia and India will jointly open job opportunities in the coastal areas of Somalia which are highly affected by piracy.

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