India, US to jointly track down financial networks of LeT, JuD

India and the US have agreed to jointly work towards tracking down the financial network and fund raising activities of Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Haqqani network and other related terrorist outfits.

The decision was taken at the fourth annual meeting of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership between finance minister P Chidambaram and US treasury secretary Jack Lew at the IMF headquarters in Washington DC on 13 October.

Since India is among the fastest growing sources of investment into the US, the two countries have agreed to further strengthen bilateral economic ties and work towards a greater understanding of investment related issues.

"Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) in the US increased from $227 million in 2002 to almost $5.2 billion in 2012, making India one of the fastest growing sources of investment into the US," finance minister P Chidambaram and his American counterpart Jack Lew said in a joint statement after their meeting on Sunday.

The two leaders voted that the economic and financial relationship between India and the US continued to deepen and strengthen despite the global economic and financial challenges.

"Despite a challenging global economy, US-India bilateral trade in goods and services grew from $59.9 billion to $92.5 billion between 2009 and 2012," a joint statement said.

"Total FDI inflows from the US into India, from April 2000 to July 2013, are USD 11.492 billion," it said.

Chidambaram and Lew also agreed on commitment to deepening dialogue on implementation of international anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and expanding cooperation on countering illicit financing.

This will include targeting the financial networks and fundraising activities of terror organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), the Haqqani Network and individual terrorists associated with these organisations, India said in a statement after the meeting.

These commitments were also reflected in a joint statement issued after Chidambaram's meeting with Lew.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is the parent body of banned terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which claimed 166 lives.

They also agreed to enhance cooperation between our agencies in fighting against counterfeiting of currencies by terrorist gangs and their supporters.

The two sides also agreed to increase engagement by experts from both governments to make "expeditious progress to address all trade and investment policy issues of bilateral concern so as to remove obstacles and improve the business environment in both countries," he said.

The two sides agreed to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in fora, including the G-20, to achieve reforms for stronger, sustainable and balanced growth, Mayaram said.

"They also reaffirmed the importance of enhancing the credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness of the International Monetary Fund and the urgent need to ratify the 2010 IMF Quota and Governance Reform," he said.