Note to Correspondents

SPECIAL MEETING OF COUNTER-TERRORISM COMMITTEE WITH INTERNATIONAL,

REGIONAL AND SUBREGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS TO BE HELD ON 6 MARCH

A special meeting of the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, expected to be attended by over 50 international, regional and subregional organizations, will take place on 6 March at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The meeting will be opened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, says that at this day-long meeting the Committee is “hoping to reach agreement on concrete steps to improve coordination between international, regional and subregional organizations with counter-terrorism programmes”.  Invited organizations include the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Interpol.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee, a committee of the Security Council tasked with monitoring all areas covered by Security Council resolution 1373, has divided the day-long programme into three sessions:  on global standards on counter-terrorism, the role of regional and subregional organizations in strengthening global counter-terrorism capacity, and the role of international and regional organizations on assistance.

According to Ambassador Greenstock, the purpose of the meeting is to enable the Committee to examine achievements and best practices, explore obstacles to coordination, discuss the development of codes and standards, and agree on mechanisms to coordinate action, including on the provision of assistance.  The overall objective of the meeting is to encourage the development of a coordinated approach within the international community on counter-terrorism issues.

Speakers at the 6 March meeting will include the Chair of the Inter-American Committee on Counter-Terrorism, Sra. Licda. Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, Minister for Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, and representatives of international bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Customs Organization.

Please note that the introductory remarks by the Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the United Nations Secretary-General will be open to the

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media, who are invited to sit in the upper gallery.  To encourage an interactive discussion and candid exchange of information, the meeting itself is closed. Members of the press will, therefore, be requested to leave the chamber following the opening statements by the Secretary-General and Ambassador Greenstock.

For further information, contact:  Christa Giles, tel. 1-212-963-0962,

e-mail: giles@un.org.

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