Pakistan congratulates Russia on assuming command of UN Counter Terrorism Office
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Pakistan has welcomed the creation of the new UN Counter Terrorism Office and congratulated Russia on the appointment of veteran Russian diplomat Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov as the Under-Secretary General for the newly established office.
Speaking in a meeting of the Advisory Board of the UN’s Counter Terrorism Center, Pakistan’s Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that she hoped the new office will bring better coordination and coherence across the UN system on counter terrorism, according to a press release issued by the Pakistan Mission to the UN.
Pakistan, she said, expected the new office to also play an important role to improve coordination in counter terrorism related capacity building assistance to the Member States, on their request, as well as in balanced implementation of the UN’s Global Counter Terrorism Strategy across its
four pillars.
She said Pakistan looks forward to working closely with the new established office and will provide all possible assistance to the new Under Secretary General in implementation of the mandate provide to him by the General Assembly.
The new UN Office of Counter Terrorism (OCT), was established following the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution by consensus on 15
June 2017. Its creation represents the first major reform of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to be implemented since his assumption
of office.
On 21 June 2017, the Secretary General appointed Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, the Russian Ambassador in Vienna, as the Under-Secretary General to lead the OCT.
Pakistan is a member of the Advisory Board of the UN’s Counter Terrorism Center, whose recent meeting reviewed the UN body’s work.
In her remarks, Ambassador Lodhi emphasized that the need for the UNCCT to develop a greater understanding of various terrorist movements, their specific motivations, objectives, organizations and modus operandi. “We cannot build an effective response without such understanding.”
The Pakistani envoy appreciated the UNCCT’s work and stated that it had played an important role in developing programmes and projects for enhancing capacity and capabilities of the member states to respond to the growing threat of terrorism at global, regional and national level.
She told the participants of the meeting that since its inception the UNCCT had come a long way, and had worked to create synergies within the UN bodies by adopting an ‘all of the UN’ approach. The UNCCT’s wide ranging programmes including border security and management, assistance to member states in terrorist designations and assets freezing, youth empowerment initiatives and various other programs have helped build the technical capacity of Member States in combating terrorism.
Going forward, she said, it is also important that the UNCCT’s projects and programmes keep pace with the rapidly evolving and multi-faceted threat posed by terrorist and extremist ideologies. In this regard, it is important that member states are encouraged to take the initiative in identifying their specific needs, which could then then be addressed by the UNCCT through close coordination and consultation with the respective states.
Apart from Pakistan, the members of the Advisory Board include Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, US, and the EU (as guest member).
