Jakarta/New Delhi, March 17 : India and Indonesia on Thursday held a security dialogue and discussed cooperation in the spheres of counter terrorism, maritime, defence and cyber security. India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval co-chaired the Security Dialogue with Mohammad Mahfud, Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs of Indonesia. Mahfud and Doval discussed several shared priorities, including review of the current global and security issues, countering terrorism and violent extremism, and enhancing maritime, defence and cyber security cooperation. A joint statement said Mahfud and Doval discussed several shared priorities, including review of the current global and security issues, countering terrorism and violent extremism, and enhancing maritime, defence, and cyber security cooperation. The two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding for Security Dialogue between the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the National Security Council Secretariat of the Republic of India. Doval conveyed his gratitude to Minister Mahfud for hosting the meeting in Indonesia and extended an invitation to host Indonesia in India to co-chair the third IISD. The two sides also recognised the importance of traditional friendly relationship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries and expressed confidence that the Dialogue would strengthen cooperation between them “to overcome common challenges and identified opportunities for further close collaboration in the field of political and security issues.” Earlier, the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said in a tweet that the security dialogue comes four years after the two sides held their first Security Dialogue in January, 2018 in New Delhi. In 2018, the Dialogue was co-chaired by NSA Ajit Doval and Indonesia’s then Coordinating Minister for Security Affairs General H Wiranto. Both sides had agreed on operational cooperation in security and counter-terrorism fields. During the State visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to India in December 2016, the two sides had agreed to establish a Security Dialogue between the two countries. It also comes days after NSA Doval attended the Colombo Security Conclave in the Maldivian capital of Male last week. The Colombo Security Conclave, a grouping of India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Mauritius, on March 10 adopted a road map for cooperation and collaboration in areas such as maritime security, counter-terrorism and drug trafficking. IISD is a forum that brings the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the Indian National Security Advisor together to discuss and enhance cooperation between the two countries on political and security issues. Doval also met the Coordinating Minister for Maritime & Investment Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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