New Delhi: The 6th meeting of the India-Italy Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime was held on 06 October 2026 in New Delhi. The 2nd meeting of the India-Italy Permanent Task Force on Countering Financing of Terrorism was held 07 October 2026 in New Delhi. The meetings were co-chaired by Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan, Additional Secretary (Counter Terrorism) at the Ministry of External Affairs of India and Mr. Paolo Mari, Joint Secretary for G7-G20, Transnational Threats and Integrated Strategy, Directorate General for Political Affairs and International Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy. Counter terrorism agencies from both countries participated in the meetings.
Condemning terrorism in all and its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, the two sides reiterated their condemnation of the heinous terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025.
Over the two days, the two sides held comprehensive discussion on a wide gamut of areas of cooperation in counter terrorism and organized crime including drug trafficking and the emerging regional and global terrorist threats. Reaffirming the need for strengthening cooperation in effectively countering the misuse of new and emerging technologies including information, communication and financial technologies for terrorist purposes, the two sides discussed ways to strengthen capacity building and information exchange to counter the emerging and non-traditional threats.
The meeting of the Permanent Task Force focused on strengthening of cooperation in countering terrorism financing under the India-Italy Joint Initiative on Countering Financing of Terrorism, which was launched by the Prime Ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November 2025. Both sides also discussed enhancing multilateral cooperation in counter terrorism, including in the UN, GCTF and FATF.
Both sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the Joint Working Group and the Permanent Task Force in Rome, Italy on mutually convenient dates.