Qatar and United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Hold First Strategic Dialogue

Qatar and United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Hold First Strategic Dialogue

New York – Information Office – 20 March

The first strategic dialogue between the State of Qatar and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism was held at United Nations Headquarters. The meeting was chaired by HE Chairman of the National Counterterrorism Committee General Eng. Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Ansari.

The meeting was attended by HE Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, HE Director of Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yousef bin Sultan Laram, and a government academician delegation from Qatar.

The meeting was chaired also by the Under-Secretary-General of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Voronkov, and was attended by Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Michele Coninsx, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Crisis Response Unit, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asako Okai, and the Coordinator of the Monitoring Team that oversees United Nations Security Council sanctions against ISIS, Al-Qaida, Edmund Fitton-Brown, and officials from UNESCO, Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

The strategic dialogue included an exchange of views between the two sides on the global and regional strategic climate and the challenges and threats posed by terrorism, violent extremism leading to terrorism and opportunities for international cooperation to address them.

The strategic dialogue held on Tuesday was the second conducted by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism since its establishment in 2017 as the first dialogue was with the European Union.

The strategic dialogue with the State of Qatar follows a joint agreement between the Government of the State of Qatar, represented by the National Counterterrorism Committee, and the United Nations, represented by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, to support strategic initiatives to address the scourge of terrorism signed in Doha on 16 December 2018.

The strategic dialogue discussed the implementation of the agreement, which establishes a partnership between the State of Qatar and the Office in combating terrorism and violent extremism, and provides for the establishment of cooperation that would lead to the establishment of a global center in Doha to implement behavioral visions on violent extremism, with a view to focusing on the study of the behavioral roots of violent extremism.

Under the agreement, the State of Qatar will make a contribution of USD 75 million over five years to the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, placing Qatar at the forefront of donor countries.

This contribution will be used to support the Office's work in the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination agreement in areas including the promotion of youth participation and skills development, as well as the Office's programs in preventing and combating violent extremism leading to terrorism and supporting victims of terrorism.

They also discussed ways to implement the agreement between the State of Qatar and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in the priority areas of the work of the office, which include: programs related to the Global Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR), support for the development of national plans to prevent and combat violent extremism, strengthening coherence and coordination within the United Nations through the Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact, the relationship between sport, preventing and combating violent extremism and protecting critical infrastructure.

It was agreed to follow up the strategic dialogue and the next meeting will be held in Doha by the end of this year and on the sidelines of Doha Forum 2019.