On December 17, 2020, the 12th Meeting of India-Australia Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism was held virtually. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of External Affairs of India led the Indian side & Tony Sheehan, Deputy Secretary International Security, Humanitarian and Consular Group, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade of Australia led the Australian side.
i.Both countries called for immediate action to ensure territories under their control are not being used for terrorist attacks.
ii.India, Australia strongly opposed the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism.
Key Points:
i.Both Countries exchanged views regarding banning of terrorist individuals/entities as a tool to combat terrorism.
ii.They held discussions and exchanged views regarding countering radicalisation, violent extremism, law enforcement cooperation, information sharing, and capacity building.
iii.Both sides called for a coordinated action against all terrorist networks.
iv.India, Australia underlined their commitment to fight terrorism as set out in the Joint Statement on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India & Australia at the Leaders’ Virtual Summit on 4th June 2020.
Cooperation in International Forum:
They discussed about cooperation in counter-terrorism in International forums such as United Nations (UN), G20, GCTF (Global Counterterrorism Forum), ARF (ASEAN regional forum), IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) & FATF (Financial Action Task Force) & QUAD group (Australia-India-Japan-United States consultations).
Condemnation of Terrorist Activities:
Australia reaffirmed the condemnation of terrorist attacks in India such as 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot & Pulwama.
Recent Related News:
i.On September 9, 2020, the first trilateral dialogue between foreign secretaries from India, France and Australia was held virtually.
ii.On June 4, 2020, the first India-Australia virtual leader’s summit was held between Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. The focus of the meet was to further strengthen the bilateral ties in areas like healthcare, trade and defence.
About Australia:
Capital– Canberra
Currency– Australian dollar
Prime Minister– Scott John Morrison
