India, Australia to fight radicalization, strengthen cooperation btw nations

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – India and Australia on Thursday discussed the emerging domestic, regional and international terrorism landscape and exchanged views on a wide range of areas of cooperation in counter terrorism, law enforcement, judicial cooperation and maritime security, media reported.

Both nations condemned the heinous terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, and the Australian side reiterated its support and solidarity with India.

They reaffirmed commitment to strengthen cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the UN, GCTF, FATF, IORA, ARF, NMFT and with QUAD partners, to combat global terrorism, during the 15th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism was held on 29-30 October in Canberra, Australia.

External Affairs Ministry said in a statement that “The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Vinod Bahade, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and Ms. Gemma Huggins, Australia’s Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism,”.

“Recognizing the need for enhancing cooperation for effectively countering the challenges in countering terrorism, the two sides underlined strengthening cooperation in timely information sharing and concerted actions to counter the use of new and emerging technology for terrorist purposes, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in countering radicalization and violent extremism conducive to terrorism,” the MEA stated.

The Indian delegation met with the officials of the Australian Federal Police Counter Terrorism Unit, National Emergency Management Agency, and Maritime Border Command; and visited the Australian Watch Office and the Crisis Centre.

“Both sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the Joint Working Group in Delhi on a mutually convenient date,” the statement added.