India and the United States have called on all countries to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under their control was used for terrorist attacks.

The two countries also shared information about their priorities and procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals against the backdrop of China blocking designation of certain terrorists by the UN Security Council.

The 19th meeting of the India-US Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group and the 5th session of the India-US Designations Dialogue were held on 12-13 December in New Delhi.

Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism, in the Ministry of External Affairs, and  Timothy Betts, Acting Coordinator for Counter Terrorism, US State Department led their respective delegations.

The two sides reaffirmed their deep strategic partnership for advancing security and prosperity for the two countries. They reiterated that terrorism remains a serious threat to international peace and security.

Both sides strongly condemned the use of terrorist proxies, cross-border terrorism and all forms of international terrorism. They called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice.

The two sides exchanged views on the threats posed by UN designated terrorist entities and emphasized the need for concerted action against terrorist networks, including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Al Badr.

Both sides discussed steps to disrupt the ability of terrorists to travel internationally, including through information sharing. Participants also deliberated pressing counter terrorism challenges, including countering terrorist financing, preventing and countering radicalization, use of the internet for terrorist purposes, narco-trafficking and its linkages to terrorism and use of new and emerging technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Systems, Virtual Assets, and the Dark Web for terrorist purposes.

They also discussed mutual legal and extradition assistance, law enforcement training, and capacity building cooperation.