Terrorism must be tackled immediately or the world would face a "catastrophe," the International Chamber of Commerce warned Tuesday.
"This fear ... about terrorism will destabilise the system of economic governance and the issue has to be looked into seriously," Mahbubur Rahman, president of the Paris-based body, told reporters in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
"We have to address how terrorism is born ... and take steps that it does not take roots anywhere in the world," he said, adding that terrorism should be handled without delay or else it would bring about an "unprecedented catastrophe to world peace, stability and prosperity."
Rahman was speaking two days after the end of a brainstorming trade conference which called for the "urgent" resumption of stalled World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks.
A deadline to conclude a new round of global market-opening measures by the end of 2004 has looked elusive since the failure of the Cancun talks last September.
But European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who attended the Bangladesh meeting, said Monday a framework for restarting the WTO talks should be in place by April with a ministerial meeting possible later this year.
Trade ministers and experts from 37 countries, including India, China, France and the European Union, participated in the Bangladesh conference. The United States did not attend.
The meeting was billed as the largest gathering of trade officials after the WTO talks in Cancun and the ICC hoped the private initiative would be useful for seeking common ground among world trade players.
Asked about the absence of the United States at the meeting, Rahman replied, "It is not possible for everyone to be everywhere always."
"The US has a big role to play as the superpower to re-launch the WTO negotiations and it has been informed about the developments in Dhaka," he added.
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