The 5th meeting of the India-Italy Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime was held on January 16-17 January 2025 in Rome when the two sides discussed emerging domestic, regional and international terrorist threats.

The meeting was Co-chaired by K.D. Dewal, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of External Affairs, from the Indian side and Alessandro Azzoni, Senior Deputy Director for Political Affairs and Director for Security at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the Italian side.

"The two sides discussed emerging domestic, regional and international terrorist threats and exchanged views on a wide range of areas of cooperation in counter terrorism and transnational organized crime," read a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Recognizing the need for enhancing cooperation for effectively countering the misuse of technology for terrorist purposes, the two sides shared experience in preventing and mitigating the menace.

 They also stressed the importance of an effective prosecution of those responsible for terrorist acts.

"The dialogue between the two strategic partner countries re-affirmed commitment to strengthen cooperation in the multilateral fora, including in the UN, GCTF and FATF," MEA said in a statement.

The two sides also discussed ways and means to advance the ongoing negotiations on various bilateral agreements.

The Indian delegation also visited and met officials of Inter-agency Law Enforcement Academy in Caserta, Italy and discussed strengthening of capacity building measures between the Academy and the counterpart organization in India.

Both sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the joint working group in Delhi on a mutually convenient date.