India, Italy decided to increase anti-terrorism cooperation, intense brainstorming on increasing bilateral cooperation

India and Italy have decided to increase cooperation in the fight against terrorism, including effectively combating the 'misuse' of technology used by terrorists. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday that the India-Italy Joint Working Group (JWG) on Terrorism and Organised Crime in Rome on 16 and 17 January discussed ways to increase cooperation between both countries in combating terrorism.

It said that the two sides discussed emerging domestic, regional, and international terrorist threats and exchanged views on several areas of cooperation against terrorism and international organized crime. The statement further said that acknowledging the need to enhance cooperation to effectively counter the misuse of technology for terrorist purposes, the two sides shared experiences in preventing and mitigating this threat.

India and Italy also emphasized the importance of effective prosecution against those responsible for terrorist acts. The Ministry of External Affairs said that in the talks, the two strategic partners reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation in multilateral forums, including the United Nations, GCTF (Global Counter-Terrorism Forum), and FATF (Financial Action Task Force). It said that 'the two sides also discussed ways and means to advance the ongoing negotiations on several bilateral agreements.'

The meeting was co-chaired by KD Deval, Joint Secretary (Counter-Terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and Alessandro Azzoni, Senior Deputy Director (Political Affairs) and Director (Security) in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Indian delegation also met officials of the Inter-Agency Law Enforcement Academy of Italy in Caserta and also discussed strengthening capacity-building measures between the Academy and its counterpart organization in India.