MELBOURNE: Joint Statement on the 3rd Quad Counterterrorism Working Group (CTWG) meeting between India, Japan, Australia, and the United States

MELBOURNE: The 3rd Quad Counter Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) meeting between India, Japan, Australia, and the United States was held in New Delhi on 04-05 December 2025, as part of India’s rotation hosting the next Quad Summit. The Quad CTWG was established during the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in New Delhi in March 2023.

Ambassador Sibi George, Secretary (West), delivered the keynote address, underscoring the need for forging a common resolve within the Quad to combat the scourge of terrorism, and urged all Quad members to take necessary steps to make the Quad CTWG a more resilient, robust, and action-oriented Working Group. He thanked Quad member countries for showing solidarity and extending support to India following the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack.

The meeting was led by senior officials in charge of counterterrorism. Dr. Vinod Bahade, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs of India; Ms. Gemma Huggins, Ambassador for Counter Terrorism, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia; Mr. MINAMI Hiroyuki, Ambassador in-charge of International Cooperation for Countering Terrorism and International Organized Crime, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; and Ms. Monica Ager Jacobsen, Senior Bureau Official for the United States Department of State Counterterrorism Bureau, led their respective delegations.

Quad partners unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. They also expressed their condolences for the heinous terror incident on 10 November 2025 near the Red Fort in Delhi. They called for the perpetrators, organizers, and financiers of this reprehensible act to be brought to justice and urged all UN Member States to cooperate in doing so.

During the meeting, the Quad member countries exchanged assessments on the terrorism threat landscape, including developments in the Indo-Pacific region. They discussed the full spectrum of counterterrorism cooperation and measures that could be used to address existing and emerging challenges. They underscored the importance of ensuring that the Indo-Pacific remains open and free from the threats of terrorism.

During the meeting, a Tabletop Exercise (TTx) on “Counter Terrorism Operations in the Urban Environment” was conducted. The TTx provided an opportunity for CT experts to share their best practices and identify potential opportunities for joint operational preparedness to respond to complex terrorist scenarios.

Quad partners reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation in multilateral fora. They also emphasised the value of continued information sharing on terrorists, terrorist organisations, and their proxies.

In September 2025, India hosted two Quad CTWG workshops on countering the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for terrorist purposes and on preventing terrorist exploitation of new and emerging technologies for terror financing. These workshops were organized by the National Security Guard and the National Investigation Agency respectively in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

Quad partners committed to further deepen counterterrorism cooperation within the Quad framework and to convene the next meeting of Quad Counter Terrorism Working Group in 2026.