New Delhi: The Second Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, Countering Violent Extremism and De-Radicalisation between Maldives and India was held in Male’ on  Monday where both sides pledged to further strengthen cooperation and shared their experiences in combating terrorism.

The Maldivian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary,  Ahmed Latheef, and the Indian delegation was led by Secretary (West)  Verma, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

"The meeting was held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere that symbolises the time-tested and good neighbourly ties between Maldives and India, and the energy, ambition and scale acquired by our bilateral relations under the leadership of His Excellency President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and His Excellency Prime Minister Narendra Modi," read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Maldives and India strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism.

Emphasising the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner both countries reaffirmed counter-terrorism cooperation as an important aspect of maintaining security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Both sides reviewed threats posed by terrorist entities that are under UN sanctions and emphasised the need for concerted action against all terrorist networks.

They underlined the urgent need for all countries to take immediate, sustained, verifiable, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under their control is used for terrorist attacks on others and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks.

Both sides shared their experiences in combating terrorism and extremism, and exchanged views on various areas of cooperation including countering radicalisation and violent extremism, combating financing of terrorism, preventing exploitation of the internet and cyberspace for terrorism and violent extremism, mutual information sharing, capacity building and establishing institutional linkages between law enforcement agencies, security forces, customs, immigration and other relevant agencies.

Further, the two sides exchanged views on enhancing bilateral cooperation against organised crime and narcotics, repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees.

Both sides pledged to further strengthen cooperation that will include further assistance and capacity building for the security and law enforcement agencies and other relevant agencies of the Maldives as well as collaboration and the exchange of best practices in the areas of counter-terrorism, preventing and countering of violent extremism including strategic communication, and de-radicalisation.

The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation and enhancing dialogues in multilateral fora through United Nations and at other global and regional platforms such as the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC).

The Indian delegation will also visit the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) during their stay in Male’.

Picture Caption: The Second Meeting of the India-Maldives Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism was held on Monday. Picture Courtesy: Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter page