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India and Canada held the seventh meeting of their Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism in New Delhi on April 11-12, 2005. The talks were held by delegations constituted on an inter-agency/ inter-departmental basis on both sides, led by Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Ms. Meera Shankar and Senior Coordinator for International Crime and Terrorism in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs Ms. Ruth Archibald.
The Joint Working Group, set up in 1997, has evolved its agenda over the years to strengthen the India-Canada partnership on counter-terrorism. It had been one of the areas supported by the Prime Ministers of India and Canada during their meeting in New Delhi on January 18, 2005. The JWG seeks to increase the complementarity of the ongoing efforts in both countries to deal with various aspects of terrorism by strengthening capacity and policy frameworks against this menace.
This particular meeting included useful discussions on assessments of current terrorist challenges, including in the South Asia region, and ways to strengthen ongoing international action to counter terrorism, including through regional and international fora like the United Nations. While discussing sources and modalities of terrorist financing and counter measures, both sides addressed concerns over the hawala system and discussed ways to promote the use of legitimate banking channels. Talks have begun on a remittance partnership between the two countries. The delegations discussed the growing link between narco-trafficking and the financing of terrorism, the new challenge of cyber terrorism and the increasing need for further collaboration in aviation and maritime security. Both sides agreed on the need for sharing information on financial transactions meant for diversion to finance terrorist activities made under the cover of charity organizations and NGOs.
Assessments were exchanged on the UN High Level Panel report and how the UN may be further utilized to combat terrorism.
The Indian side shared the sense of disappointment and outrage among the relatives of the victims of the Air India Kanishka bombing case. It was understood that Canada would continue its investigation towards bringing the case to a logical conclusion. Canada noted that it would be meeting with the families of the victims.
The months ahead would see specific action, as agreed to mutually, on all the above areas, including capacity building and intelligence exchange.
The next meeting of the India-Canada Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism will be held in Spring 2006 on mutually convenient dates in Ottawa.
AK/SK/JA
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