India and Egypt have underscored the importance of bilateral cooperation in countering terrorism, reflecting the spirit of India-Egypt Strategic Partnership. They unequivocally and strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, and reaffirmed the principle of zero tolerance towards terrorism. Both sides reiterated that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.
The 5th meeting of the Joint Working Group JWG on Counter Terrorism between India and Egypt was held in New Delhi yesterday. They strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir in April last year and the terror incident near Red Fort, New Delhi in November last year and stressed that all those involved in terrorist activities and their support must be held accountable and brought to justice.
Egypt reaffirmed its solidarity with India against all forms of terrorism aimed at undermining the country’s security and stability. Both sides emphasised that confronting terrorism requires concerted action in a sustained and comprehensive manner. Against this backdrop, the two sides renewed their commitment to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the field of countering terrorism, including in the UN, BRICS, FATF, GCTF and other multilateral platforms.
They also exchanged views on how to enhance effectiveness of the GCTF and reiterated their commitment to early finalisation and adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. The two sides exchanged views on threats emanating from terrorism and discussed threats posed by the terrorist groups globally and in their respective regions. In this regard, they called for concerted actions against all UN-designated terrorists and terrorist entities and their affiliates, proxy groups, supporters, sponsors, financiers and backers.
Both sides reviewed a wide range of traditional and emerging threats and challenges such as terrorist recruitment, abuse of technology for terrorist purposes and financing of terrorism. They expressed concerns over the increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles, drones and AI for terrorist purposes. The two sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in areas of training and capacity building, cyber security, judicial cooperation, exchange of best practices and information sharing through continued bilateral and multilateral efforts. The next meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism will be held in Egypt.
