New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Tuesday held discussions on counterterrorism, drug trafficking and security with US Ambassador Eric Garcetti, in his first reported meeting with an envoy from the West.
The meeting was held at Shah’s office in North Block in the national capital, as reported by news agency ANI. During the meeting, Shah “reiterated the commitment to building upon the positive outcomes” arising out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US last month, the Home Minister’s Office said on Twitter.
The meeting between the home minister and the US Ambassador is significant as the former has rarely held one-on-one meetings with foreign ambassadors.
Union Home Minister @AmitShah met @USAmbIndia, Eric Garcetti today. Had a productive conversation about advancing cooperation between both nations in counter-terrorism, drug trafficking and security domains. Reiterated commitment to building upon the positive outcomes of PM… pic.twitter.com/NPThIjFiJY
— गृहमंत्री कार्यालय, HMO India (@HMOIndia) July 11, 2023
On 22 June, after PM Modi met US President Joe Biden, the two countries released a joint statement reiterating their commitment to stand together to “counter global terrorism,” and unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in “all its forms and manifestations”.
Modi and Biden called for concerted action against all United Nations-listed terrorist groups including the Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also called the Islamic State), Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), and the Hizbul Mujahideen. The two leaders also called upon Pakistan to ensure that “no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks”.
Both India and the US also committed to sharing information about cyber threats and vulnerabilities, and to work together in response to cyber threats and incidents.
Shah will be addressing the G20 conference on crime and security, to be held 13-14 July.
Shah’s meetings
In April this year, Shah chaired a meeting with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states’ heads of departments (HoD) for dealing with prevention and elimination of emergency situations.
In August 2022, Shah met Nepalese Ambassador Shankar Sharma and discussed bilateral ties, according to Khabarhub, a Nepalese digital news media organisation.
On the sidelines of the third ‘No Money for Terror’ conference hosted in New Delhi in November 2022, Shah held meetings with Maldives Home Minister Imran Abdulla, the then Nigerian Minister of the Interior Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the president of the Financial Action Task Force, T. Raja Kumar.
Shah also met the Maldives home minister in February 2020.
In 2019, according to media reports, Shah met with the Director General of Bangladesh Border Guard, Major General Mohammad Shafeenul Islam, Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji, Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, and the Singapore Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, on separate occasions.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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