Shura Council to work with UNOCT to eliminate terrorism: Speaker
THE Shura Council will make all possible efforts with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) to eliminate terrorism in the world and ensure security, peace and stability, as this is a necessary condition to fight poverty, deprivation and marginalisation, said Shura Council Speaker HE Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.
He highlighted the Council’s efforts in strengthening parliamentary participation worldwide in combating terrorism, referring to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) he signed at the UN headquarters in New York in February 2020 with Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Combating Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov.
He also referred to the agreement signed in November 2020 to establish UNOCT Programme Office in Doha and its activities covering all parliaments of the world.
Mahmoud was speaking at a virtual meeting of the Special Committee on Counter Terrorism of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) on Tuesday.
In his speech, he welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the United Nations Office of CounterTerrorism (UNOCT) and the PAM to support cooperation between the two sides and to mobilise parliamentarians’ contribution for the activities of the office.
He expressed his aspiration for more cooperation and coordination between the PAM and the Shura Council.
Speaking at the meeting, member of the Shura Council and member of the PAM HE Dahlan bin Jamaan Al Hamad highlighted the Council’s efforts to mobilise international parliamentary support to combat terrorism, stressing that the UNOCT concerned with parliamentary participation in preventing and combating terrorism will work diligently, from its headquarters in Doha, to develop and strengthen the parliamentary role in this field, which is a qualitative addition to the efforts to combat terrorism.
He also provided a detailed explanation of the functions and terms of reference of the office.
Under-Secretary-General of the UN for Combating Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Michele Coninsx and Chairman of the PAM’s Special Parliamentary Committee Gennaro Migliore participated in the meeting of the Special Parliamentary committee on Counter Terrorism, during which the Assembly signed an MoU with the UNOCT.
The meeting discussed international and regional cooperation in combating terrorism, the role of parliamentarians and how to face the existing challenges in this field.