India, Netherlands condemn terrorism

India and the Netherlands on Thursday reiterated their "strong" condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Both the leaders also affirmed that terrorism cannot be justified on any grounds whatsoever it may be and should not be associated with any religion, creed, nationality or ethnicity. They also called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and their financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists including foreign fighters, the statement read.

The two sides agreed that terrorist and extremist organisations need to be denied space to radicalise, recruit, and conduct attacks on innocent people. They deplored the violence caused by Al Qaeda, Daesh/Islamic State (IS), Jaish-e-Mohammed, HizbulMujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayabba, and their affiliates as well as terrorist groups threatening peace and security in South Asia and Europe.

The Leaders also called for an early conclusion of negotiations and the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the United Nations, as an instrument for a global alliance of nations against terrorism which would reinforce the message that no cause or grievance justifies terrorism.

Both sides agreed to deepen and enhance the scope of the ongoing bilateral dialogues on security issues and to hold the next round of counter terrorism dialogue in The Hague in the second-half of 2018.

The two sides also agreed to hold the bilateral cyber dialogue in 2018 with the intention to discuss issues including internet governance, and data protection, cyber security policy and Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) cooperation and international capacity building. The leaders welcomed the deepening of cooperation on cyber-security through the signing of a MoU between The Hague Security Delta and Hyderabad Security Cluster, India's first Cyber Security Cluster. They noted with appreciation the launch by the Government of Karnataka of a Centre of Excellence, in which The Hague Security Delta will be an international partner.

Reflecting the growing strategic trust between the two countries, the Leaders noted the progress made by the two sides in finalizing the text on the Agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information in the field of Defence.

According to the statement, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening disarmament and global non-proliferation efforts. The Netherlands congratulated India's accession to the MTCR, Wassenaar arrangement and the Australia Group. In order to further strengthen global non-proliferation, the Netherlands reaffirmed its strong support to building consensus among regimes' members on the issue of India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group; recognizing that India's accession will add value to the aims and objectives of these regimes.