Morocco and UN to Strengthen Counterterrorism Cooperation

Rabat - Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, said on Friday that cooperation between Morocco and the UN in the field of counterterrorism is “strong and fruitful.”

The statement came during a celebration of the first anniversary of the Rabat-based United Nations Office for Counter-Terrorism and Training in Africa.

During the celebration, Bourita and Vladimir Voronkov, the Under Secretary General of the UN’s Counter Terrorism Office (UNOCT) , agreed to strengthen the “strategic dialogue” between Morocco and the UNOCT over the coming years to fight terrorist threats.

Bourita additionally stressed that the Rabat-based counterrorisms training center is the first of its kind in Africa, having already delivered tangible results in the security field during its first year.

Speaking on cooperation between the UNOCT and Morocco, he also added that it focuses not only on theoretical improvements to counter terrorism, but also on enacting tangible measures and projects to produce results.

The minister went on to mention Morocco’s participation in various regional conferences and the partnerships it forged with the UN and other African countries to protect its security interests.

Rabat’s UN Office for Counter-Terrorism and Training in Africa relies on a pool of domestic and international experts to provide world-class training to African entities to combat threats.

On Thursday, the UNOCT organized in the city of Marrakech a high-level meeting where experts and officials from 23 countries discussed counterterrorism mechanisms.

The meeting dealt with security threats in the Sahel as well as the growing presence of ISIS in the continent, and symbolized Morocco’s commitment to regional cooperation to combat these threats.

Marrakech also notably hosted the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS earlier this year.

All these developments come as Morocco continues to cement its global standing as a reliable and assertive player in the security field. 

The latest “Global Terrorism Index” from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) has notably ranked the North African countryamong the world’s safest nations.

“Morocco’s active role in fighting terrorism suggests the country’s understanding of the threat; the interconnectedness of its counterterrorism methods,” the IEP’s report detailed.

Source: Morocco World News.