India, Australia Conclude Talks to Combat Terrorism, Deepen Cooperation

| Updated: 05 May, 2022 8:40 pm IST

A Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs and Roger Noble, Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia

NEW DELHI: India and Australia explored ways to deepen ties on combating terrorism in a counter-terror talk in Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs stated.

An Indian delegation led by A Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism at the Ministry of External Affairs and Roger Noble, Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia concluded the 13th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism.

During the meeting, the two parties contemplated deepening co-operation in counter-terrorism cooperation in UN, G20, GCTF, ARF, IORA and FATF, as well as with Quad partners.

“India and Australia strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner. Both sides condemned the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in a statement.

Australia would host India again at the next Quad Counter-Terrorism Tabletop Exercise in October 2022, while Australia is expected to participate in the proposed No Money for Terror Conference in New Delhi to be held later this year.

In the moot on Counter-Terrorism in Canberra, two sides emphasized the urgent need for every country to take “immediate, sustained, verifiable and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under their control is used for terrorist attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks.”

In the talks, India and Australia identified a few areas for collaboration including countering radicalisation and violent extremism, combating the financing of terrorism, the proscription of terrorist individuals and entities as a tool to combat terrorism, preventing the exploitation of the internet for terrorism, law enforcement cooperation and information sharing and capacity building.