India, Philippines hold 2nd counter-terrorism meeting in Manila

India and the Philippines held the 2nd Joint Working Group meeting on Counter Terrorism in Manila, strongly condemning terror in all forms. Both sides discussed enhancing cooperation, information sharing, and countering terror financing.

The 2nd meeting of the India-Philippines Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism was held on 13-14 May 2026 in Manila, Philippines. The meeting was co-chaired by Vinod Bahade, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism) in the Ministry of External Affairs of India and Marshall Louis M Alferez, Assistant Secretary of the Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, as per a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Strong Condemnation of Terrorism

Both sides unequivocally and strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross- border terrorism. They further condemned the heinous terrorist attack on 22 April 2025 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, India and the terror incident on 10 November 2025 near the Red Fort, New Delhi. The Philippines side reiterated its solidarity and support with India in the fight against terrorism.

Areas of Cooperation Discussed

As per the MEA, both sides discussed emerging regional and global terrorism landscape and exchanged views on a wide range of areas of cooperation in counter terrorism, law enforcement, judicial cooperation and capacity building.

Recognizing the need for enhancing cooperation for effectively countering the current and emerging challenges to counter terrorism, the two sides underlined strengthening cooperation in timely information sharing and concerted actions to counter the use of new and emerging technology for terrorist purposes and terror financing.

They further discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in countering radicalization and violent extremism conducive to terrorism.

Commitment to International Cooperation

Both sides emphasized the need for strengthening international cooperation to combat terrorism in a comprehensive and sustained manner and re-affirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the UN, FATF, APG and ARF, the statement added.

The Indian delegation also met the senior officials of the National Security Council and the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines. Both sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the Joint Working Group in India on a mutually convenient date.

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