Maldives and India strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism, during the Second Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, Countering Violent Extremism and De-Radicalization between Maldives and India, held in Male’ on July 24, reports Raajje.mv. The Maldivian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary, Ahmed Latheef, and the Indian delegation was led by Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI). Reaffirming counter-terrorism cooperation as an important aspect of maintaining security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), both sides reviewed threats posed by terrorist entities that are under United Nations (UN) sanctions and emphasized the need for concerted action against all terrorist networks. They underlined the urgent need for all countries to take action to ensure that no territory under their control is used for terrorist attacks on others. Additionally, both countries, shared their experiences in combating terrorism and extremism, and exchanged views on various areas of cooperation including countering radicalization and violent extremism, combating financing of terrorism, preventing exploitation of the internet and cyberspace for terrorism and violent extremism, mutual information sharing, capacity building and establishing institutional linkages between law enforcement agencies, security forces (SFs), customs, immigration and other relevant agencies. Further, the two sides exchanged views on enhancing bilateral cooperation against organized crime and narcotics, repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees.