SCO security chiefs concerned by compatriots' participation in Middle East hostilities
TASHKENT. Nov 18 (Interfax) - Security and intelligence officials from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries have drawn particular attention to security and stability threats that will increase as natives of the region, who are currently participating in hostilities in the Middle East, in Syria and in Afghanistan, return to their home countries.
On Tuesday Tashkent hosted a scientific-practical conference on cooperation among the SCO member states and observer states in countering international terrorism and extremism, held under the aegis of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO RAS) and attended by intelligence and security officials from the SCO member states and observers states.
Today the rise in international terrorism in various parts of the world, including southeastern Asia and the Middle East, as well as the unstable situation in Iraq and Syria, are a real factor posing a threat to stability and the efforts to fight terrorism across the SCO space, the SCO RAS said in a press release.
Particular focus was on the region's natives being involved in hostilities on the side of antigovernment forces abroad, in particular, in the Middle East, in Syria and Afghanistan.
The attendees pointed to the trend towards a rise in threat to security and stability across the SCO region as combatants return to their home countries.
The forum attendees underscored the need for relevant authorities in the SCO member and observer states to step up their cooperation in bolstering regional stability and security and countering terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The SCO member states and observer states reaffirmed their commitment to consolidating the central coordinating role of the United Nations in organizing international fight against the terror threat, gradual implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and swift completion of the process of approving the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, the statement said
The conference attendees acknowledged joint efforts, collection and exchange of data on terrorist organizations and their functionaries as an efficient tool of countering the new threats and challenges.
The meeting resulted in an agreement to urgently formalize cooperation and set up working mechanisms for cooperation between the SCO RAS and the competent authorities of the SCO observer states on the basis of the SCO RAS Council-approved draft protocols regulating their anti-terrorist cooperation.
The SCO member states are: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The observer states are: Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan.