India and Egypt hold meeting on counter-terrorism

“The respective delegations were led by Mr. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs of India and Mr. Mohamed Fouad Ahmed, Director, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and consisted of senior representatives from both sides,” according to a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs. 

“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 press release went on to say. 

Security cooperation, particularly on terror-related issues, will form one of the pillars of the India-Egypt strategic partnership in the future. This was decided by both sides during the recent visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, during which he attended Republic Day 2023 as Chief Guest. 

“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,” says the Ministry of External Affairs. 

“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 in the United Nations and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF),” the MEA press release goes on to say.