New Delhi

India today pressed for extradition of certain individuals from UAE who are wanted here as the two countries reviewed the entire gamut of ties with focus on key areas of security, investment and trade.

The discussion took place at a ministerial commission meeting here which was held nearly a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE where security cooperation was a major issue on the agenda during his talks with the Emirati leadership.

After the meeting, which was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her visiting UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two sides inked five MoUs including in the areas of telecommunications and tourism.

Briefing reporters, Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East) in the MEA said, the two sides discussed subjects under seven sub-committees in areas like, trade and commerce, investments, energy, petrochemicals, defence, security and combating crime, immigration and Indian community-related issues and “arrived on agreements to enhance our cooperation in these areas”.

Asked if there was any list given for the extradition of individuals, he said no specific name was discussed but “these are ongoing discussions with UAE. As far as joint commission is concerned, specific cases were not taken up in this format.

But it was agreed that we will continue with this cooperation.

“There are certain requests pending from our side for extradition and also certain requests which have been made ..in this field.”

He also said the UAE has come out in support of early finalisation of Indian-proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the United Nations and has assured that it will find “ways and means” to encourage other countries to reach a consensus.

UAE’s support to India on CCIT is significant given the proposal at the UN has been opposed by many OIC countries, including Pakistan, who do not agree with the definition of terror and terrorists.

The two sides also discussed the increasing threat of Islamic State (IS) and, in this regard, stressed that CCIT would be an important instrument to choke their finances and other sustainability modules. CCIT, a treaty proposed by India in 1996, aims at banning terrorists and make it binding on countries to deny funds and safe havens to them.

PTI