New Delhi/UNI: India and Egypt strongly condemned terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, during the third meeting of the Joint Working Group on counter-terrorism held here, and reviewed threats posed by terrorist groups globally and in their countries, a statement said.

The respective delegations at the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism held on Thursday were led by Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs of India and Mohamed Fouad Ahmed, Director, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and comprised of senior representatives from both sides.

“India and Egypt strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism. The two sides reviewed threats posed by terrorist groups globally and in their respective countries and regions.

"They shared their respective counter-terrorism priorities and actions undertaken to counter-terrorism, violent extremism conducive to terrorism, radicalization and terror financing,” the statement added.

“The two sides underscored the need for taking concerted actions against all the UNSC-designated terrorist entities. They called upon all countries to take immediate, sustained, irreversible and verifiable actions to ensure that no territory under their control is used as a terrorist safe haven and to bring to justice perpetrators of terrorist attacks.

They further called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist networks, infrastructure, their financing channels and preventing cross-border movement of terrorists.”

In the backdrop of the Delhi Declaration adopted in October 2022 during the special meeting of UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee in New Delhi and the 3rd No Money for Terror Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing in November 2022 in New Delhi, both sides discussed the way forward to address new and emerging challenges posed by virtual currencies, unmanned aerial systems and misuse of cyberspace by terrorists for terrorist propaganda.

The two sides reaffirmed the need for early finalisation and adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) which is aimed at advancing and strengthening the global counter-terrorism legal framework, it added.

The two sides agreed to further strengthen bilateral counter-terrorism collaboration, including through training and capacity-building efforts, exchanges of good practices and information sharing.

The Joint Working Group also discussed multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation including the United Nations and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).

In this context, both sides exchanged views on how to enhance the effectiveness of the GCTF, ahead of the next Forum’s Coordinating Committee Meeting that will take place in Cairo on May 4, 2023, during which Egypt will officially assume the Co-Chairmanship of the Forum.

The next meeting of the Joint Working Group shall be held in Egypt on a mutually convenient date.