India, France vow to deny safe havens, sources of financing to terrorists

India and France on Friday agreed to deepen their counterterrorism cooperation, stressing the need to deny safe havens and sources of funding to terrorists.

The two countries held the 14th Meeting of Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism here at which a interagency Indian delegation was led by Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary Mahaveer Singhvi, while the French delegation was led by David Bertolotti, Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic, Security and Disarmament Affairs of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Both sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner, a Ministry of External Affairs statement said.

"They exchanged views on current counter-terrorism challenges including countering radicalisation, combating financing of terrorism, preventing use of internet for terrorist purposes, threats posed by internationally designated terrorist entities as well as cross-border terrorism in South Asian region," it said.

Both sides stressed the need to deny safe havens and sources of financing to terrorists, the MEA said.

The two countries agreed to further strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, as a cornerstone of their bilateral strategic partnership through regular exchange of information, joint capacity building efforts, mutual legal assistance, sharing best practices for countering terrorism and radicalisation, and cooperating in multilateral fora such as the Untied Nations and the Financial Action Task Force.

They intend to work closely together in view of the third edition of the 'No Money for Terror' international conference on fighting terrorist financing being organised by the government later this year in New Delhi, the MEA said.

It was decided that the next meeting of the Joint Working Group on counter-terrorism shall be held in France in 2021 on a mutually convenient date.