Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of global calls for cutting off funding and arms for terrorist groups.
Calling terrorism a plague that does not differentiate in its spread between developing and developed societies, Sisi said it is imperative that the international community intensify cooperation and coordination to end the support provided to terrorist organizations.
Sisi made the remarks at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly which opened here Wednesday.
His appeal came at a time when a broad campaign against terrorism, especially extremist group Islamic State (IS), is gaining traction, with five Arab countries announcing their decisions to join Washington Tuesday in launching air strikes against IS targets in Syria.
Also on Wednesday, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously adopted a U.S.-proposed legally binding resolution that requires all states to "prevent and suppress" the recruitment and travel of militant fighters in foreign conflicts.
Listing terrorist threats in Libya, Syria and Iraq, the Egyptian president, 59, proposed a two-pronged approach to uproot the scourge of the terrorism.
To neutralize terrorists, he suggested countries apply the principle of equality on all citizens, which, he said, would help safeguard societies from exploitation and prevent them from succumbing to extremism. The second one involves a decisive confrontation with the forces of extremism and terrorism, he said.
The president also outlined his government's plan to revitalize Egypt's economy and lay the foundation of a free market economy.