India and Maldives held the second meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, Countering Violent Extremism and De-Radicalisation in Male’ only recently. Secretary (West) His Excellency Sanjay Verma, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India held a dialogue with the Maldivian delegation- Foreign Secretary, His Excellency Ahmed Latheef.
In the meeting, the two countries strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism. To maintain security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), they emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner.
They reviewed threats posed by terrorist entities that are under UN sanctions. The delegates further 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. They also agreed to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks.
Both high ranking officials exchanged views on various areas of cooperation including countering radicalization and violent extremism, combating financing of terrorism, preventing exploitation of the internet and cyberspace for terrorism and violent extremism. By sharing experiences in combating terrorism and extremism, they agreed on ensuring capacity building and establishing institutional linkages between law enforcement agencies, security forces, customs, immigration and other relevant agencies.
Their intent has been 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. There was also an exchange of the best practices in the areas of counter-terrorism, preventing and countering violent extremism including strategic communication, and de-radicalization. Besides this, the two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation and enhance dialogues in multilateral fora through the United Nations and at other global and regional platforms such as the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC).
As a part of the programme, the Indian delegation also visited the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) during their stay in Male