India, Germany sign broad-ranging security cooperation agreement

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Monday said India and Germany had signed a broad-ranging security cooperation agreement on exchange of information on terrorist recruitment activities, investigating cases, dealing with financing propaganda, movement to conflict zones, counterfeiting and trafficking.

Besides these, he said, one was on flight marshal on flight security and disaster management, where Germans have a very strong record on search and rescue operations.

On defence side, the discussion essential covered the business opportunities that would arise out of India's defence FDI policy, he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared their concern about the growing threat and global reach of terrorism and extremism, and underscored their readiness to build closer collaboration to counter these challenges during the third Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) at Hyderabad House here.

"They condemned terrorist violence in all its forms and manifestations, whether in the Middle East or in any other part of the world," said the joint statement.

The statement further said that the two countries agreed to develop further cooperation through regular meetings of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism and welcomed the initiation of cooperation in disaster management.