ISLAMABAD – The 7th meeting of the Pakistan Russia Joint Working Group onCounter-Terrorism was held here Wednesday at the Ministry of ForeignAffairs.
The Pakistan side was led by Ahmad Farooq, Director General, CounterTerrorism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Russian side was led byIlya Rogachev, Director Department for New Challenges of the RussianMinistry of Foreign Affairs. Both delegations included officials fromrelevant departments dealing with counter-terrorism.
The two sides discussed a wide ranging agenda covering thecounter-terrorism situation at the regional and global level, actions takenby both countries to tackle the menace of terrorism as well as bilateralcooperation on the issue.
There was broad agreement on the fact that terrorism was acommon global threat which required cooperative efforts of theinternational community for effectively eradicating it.
The Pakistan side briefed the Russian delegation about the major successesit had achieved in the fight against terrorism through kinetic actions aswell as implementation of the National Action Planon counter-terrorism.
This had resulted in significantly improving the security situation inPakistan. The Russian side highly appreciated Pakistan’s contribution tothe global fight against terrorism.
Both sides expressed grave concern over the rising threat posed by Da’esh.While major successes had been achieved in the fight against Da’esh inSyria and Iraq, the returning Da’eshfighters from the conflict zones to countries of origin or third countriesconstituted a major security threat to various parts of the world,including this region. It was important for countries of the region tocooperate to counter this threat.
The two sides reaffirmed the commitment for promoting bilateral cooperationfor countering terrorism. They also agreed to cooperate at the UnitedNations and other international fora forcombating terrorism.
The discussions were held in a cordial and frank manner and there wascommonality of viewson all issues. It was agreed that the next meeting of the JWG would be heldin Moscow in 2019.