We believe out of this great tragedy a new common purpose has arisen

Colin Powell

At the start of the meeting, the 15 foreign ministers stood for a moment of silence to remember those who had died in the plane crash in Queens earlier in the day.

This was a largely symbolic resolution designed to keep up international momentum behind the drive to eliminate global terrorism.

The fact that foreign ministers sat in the seats of the UN Security Council added weight to their words.

All spoke in favour of efforts to counter international terrorism.

'Robust defence'

The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said the war on terrorism had to begin within the sovereign borders of every UN member state.

Security Council members

United States United Kingdom France Russia China Singapore Tunisia Ukraine Bangladesh Colombia Ireland Jamaica Mali Mauritius Norway

"We believe out of this great tragedy a new common purpose has arisen," he said.

"No greater threat to international peace and security exists in the world today, and through this body we have established, and are establishing, the tools to build a more robust defence.

It's time now to put those tools to work."

The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, focused closely on earlier Security Council directives passed in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in September.

It called on all states to sign and ratify as soon as possible existing international counter-terrorism conventions and underlined the obligations countries face to deny financial support and safe haven to terrorist groups.

There should be some indication of whether the world is acting on these words by the end of the year.

All UN member states have been asked to report at the end of December to a special counter-terrorism committee on the measures they have implemented to stop the financing and support of terrorist groups.