New Delhi: The EU and India on Thursday strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation in dealing with counter terrorism challenges.
In this context, the two countries agreed that cooperation in multilateral fora such as the United Nations and the Global Counter terrorism Forum (GCTF) remained crucial.
Both the sides held their 14th Counter-Terrorism Dialogue in New Delhi, the MEA said. The dialogue was an opportunity to continue and enhance cooperation on this important element of the EU-India Strategic Partnership.
The meeting allowed for an in depth discussion on regional threat assessments, key Counter-Terrorism policy developments, including state sponsored and cross-border terrorism, countering terrorism financing, preventing online radicalisation and exchanging on the impact of new and disruptive technologies, including their consequences for the threat and their use in countering terrorism.
Both sides discussed ways to deepen relations between Indian and European law enforcement authorities. In this context, the two sides welcomed the signing of the working arrangement between Europol and the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
They emphasized the importance of strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation through exchange of information, capacity building, strengthening law enforcement and judicial partnerships.
The Dialogue was co-chaired by Joanneke Balfoort, Director for Security and Defence Policy in the European External Action Service and Ambassador K.D. Dewal, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism in the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
The EU’s Belgian Presidency chair of the COTER Working Group, Nicolas Nihon also took part in the Dialogue. The EU and India further agreed to hold the next round of JWG on CT in Brussels.
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