Pak, Russia express concern over growing ISIS threat

Pakistan and Russia today expressed "grave concern" over the rising threat of ISIS and called for cooperation among countries to effectively counter the menace of terrorism.

According to the Pakistan Foreign Office, top officials from both the countries expressed their views at the 7th Meeting of the Pakistan Russia Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism held in here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Both sides expressed grave concern over the rising threat posed by ISIS," it said in a statement, adding that the delegations included officials from relevant departments dealing with counter-terrorism.

"While major successes had been achieved in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the returning ISIS fighters from the conflict zones to countries of origin or third countries constituted a major security threat to various parts of the world, including this region," the two sides agreed.

They also said that it was important for countries of the region to cooperate to counter this threat.

The two sides discussed a wide ranging agenda covering the counter-terrorism situation at the regional and global level, actions taken by both countries to tackle the menace of terrorism as well as bilateral cooperation on the issue, it said.

There was agreement that terrorism was a common global threat which required cooperative efforts of the international community for effectively eradicating it, it said.

The Pakistan side briefed the Russian delegation about the major successes it had achieved in the fight against terrorism, resulting in significantly improving the security situation in Pakistan.

The Russian side appreciated Pakistan's contribution to the global fight against terrorism, the statement said.

The two sides reaffirmed the commitment for promoting bilateral cooperation for countering terrorism.

They also agreed to cooperate at the United Nations and other international fora for combating terrorism.

It was agreed that the next meeting of the JWG would be held in Moscow in 2019.