India and Uzbekistan have agreed to deepen cooperation in counter-terrorism following the 9th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, held in Tashkent on Tuesday.

The talks were co-chaired by Vinod J. Bahade, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and Gulomjon Pirimkulov, Head of Department for Cooperation with South Asia, Middle East and Africa at Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Both sides condemned the April 22, 2025 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which targeted innocent civilians. They discussed threats posed by global and regional terrorist groups, while exchanging views on emerging challenges such as radicalization, terrorism financing, use of technology for extremist activities, and the nexus between organized crime and terrorism.

The MEA said both countries reaffirmed their commitment to closer coordination in multilateral platforms, including the United Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation–Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS), and the Eurasian Group on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (EAG). The next Joint Working Group meeting will be hosted in India at a mutually agreed date.

The meeting builds on recent high-level exchanges. In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin, where both leaders emphasized the “dynamic partnership” between the two nations, spanning security, culture, economy, and people-to-people ties.

India was among the first nations to recognize Uzbekistan’s independence, with diplomatic relations established in 1992. The partnership was elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2011, supported by regular dialogue mechanisms to track cooperation.