Speaking moments ago at the UN meeting in New York, Shanmugam told the other world leaders that Singapore condemns the terrorist actions of the groups "in the strongest possible terms".

"It is brutal, cruel and a travesty of all that religion stands for," he said while backing international efforts and UN resolutions to combat the group.

He also endorsed the view - voiced by US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the UN summit - that military strikes alone were not a sufficient solution for the problem of extremism.

"The threat of such terrorism and radical ideology is not confined to the Middle East. It affects the whole world," said Shanmugam, citing the estimated 15,000 foreigners from Southeast Asia and around the world that have travelled to the Middle East to join forces with ISIS.

"That ISIS can attract so many foreign fighters highlights the need for a comprehensive strategy to counter them. In addition to military and intelligence efforts, we must also combat the radical ideology used to recruit foreign fighters, and which fuels their extremist agenda," he said.

Shanmugam added: "No country can insulate itself from these problems. We need to combat them at all levels. Critically: fair economic development, good governance, political and, social stability will increase a country's resilience against them."

ISIS aside, the Singapore foreign minister focused the bulk of his speech on the push for sustainable development and the UN's ongoing task of drafting a new development agenda to replace the Millennium Development Goals blueprint that ends in 2015.

The eight Millennium Development Goals include eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability.

In discussions on the post-2015 development agenda, Shanmugam said Singapore would focus on those areas it can contribute. He cited, for example, three principles critical to the country's growth that he thought might be relevant to other developing nations.

The three are: An honest, and competent government, effective institutions, and policies that are "pragmatic, not dogmatic".

On the third principle, he said that Singapore has never been an advocate for any standard model of government or economic structure.

"The only model is to work with what you have within the context of your culture and resources, prudently and for the benefit of the people," he said. "Policies must be judged by theiroutcomes, not according to ideological content."

He also stressed that no one approach will work for every country: "Each society must draw its own lessons from its own experiences, and find solutions according to its national circumstances. Naturally, there will be differences of opinion but we must not lose sight of the ultimate goal of ending extreme poverty in our lifetimes." (***)

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