AKIPRESS.COM - China's Secretary General of the Central Commission on Political and Legal Affairs Wang Yongqing and the United Kingdom's National Security Adviser Mark Lyall Grant co-chaired the first China-U.K. High Level Security Dialogue, Sputnik reports.

"On counter-terrorism, the U.K. and China agree in the face of ever more serious challenges for the international community in fighting terrorism that it is in both sides’ interests to develop their bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism; in their anti-terrorism cooperation the two sides will recognize each others’ concerns about major security interests and develop pragmatic cooperation to tackle terrorist threats faced in common and individually," the joint communique reads.

According to the document, the sides also agreed to develop coordination and share experience on the anti-terror fight. The sides agreed to hold discussions on combating cyber-crime and related matters through the mechanism of a China-U.K. security dialogue, as well as the China-U.K. annual working conference on organized crime, with the aim of sharing intelligence and experience.

The sides agreed to set up cooperation mechanisms to protect their citizens, diplomatic missions and economic interests abroad. They reaffirmed commitment to reaching consensus on matters of mutual concern, including Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and a number of other global and regional security issues, according to the communique.