Qatar urges concerted efforts to combat terrorism

Minsk: Qatar stressed the importance of concerted efforts by the international community in the field of combating terrorism, in exerting efforts to prevent terrorists from accessing technology, and in enhancing collective action to prevent the movement of terrorist fighters through the development of aviation systems and the exchange of databases.

The Chairman of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee, Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari, made the remarks at a high-level international “Conference on Countering Terrorism Through Innovative Approaches and the Use of New and Emerging Technologies”, which concluded yesterday in Minsk, Belarus.

He pointed to the seriousness of developments related to terrorists’ use of social media and artificial intelligence, adding no society can fight that phenomenon today on its own, and no society is immune to it.

The Chairman called for strengthening the frameworks of international cooperation and exchanging best practices, as well as identifying opportunities for exchanging expertise and resources among member states, while reviewing Qatar’s efforts in combating terrorism and supporting the communities affected by this dangerous scourge. Major General Al Ansari, in his speech, affirmed Qatar’s great support to the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism. The two-day conference brought together member states, the private sector, NGOs and civil society, in seeking to address today’s most pressing issues pertaining to technology and counter-terrorism, including online radicalisation, artificial intelligence, hacking, lethal autonomous weapons and the cross-border travel of foreign terrorist fighters.

The conference was co-organised by Belarus and United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism. Its recommendations included the importance of developing means to curb terrorist activity and to dry up the sources of terrorist activities.