By Sidi Mohamed
DOHA: The meeting of the Undersecretaries of the Ministries of Interior of the GCC countries that kicked off on Monday concluded yesterday as a prelude to a meeting of GCC Interior Ministers slated to be held here today.
The Undersecretaries discussed many issues and adopted a number of recommendations which will be raised at the meeting of interior ministries today.
Major-General Saad bin Jassim Al Khulaifi , Director General of Public Security, Qatar, chaired the meeting and stressed in the concluding session the importance of continued cooperation and exchange of experiences among GCC security services, in order to counter the expected dangers against “our societies and our countries”.
Hazza’a Mubarak Al Hajri, Assistant Secretary General for Security Affairs at the GCC Secretariat in Riyadh, said in a press statement that the Undersecretaries discussed many issues related to security in the GCC region as a whole.
“The security of all GCC countries is our common concern and in case of any breach in the security system all GCC states would be affected,” said Al Hajri.
He said there will be a GCC-level Interpol which will be headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
The GCC Secretary-General will sign an agreement to base the regional interpol (GCCPOL) head office in Abu Dhabi. The agreement will be signed with the UAE government at the GCC Secretariat in
Riyadh. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be inked between the GCC General-Secretariat and the Police College in Qatar to enhance police cooperation at the GCC level, he added. Specialist sub-committees of the Undersecretaries also discussed issues like traffic, civil defence and fighting the drug menace in the GCC region.
The GCC countries are attracting investments due to their booming economies, so people move within the region and so do criminals. “They may also move from one country to another in the region, and there is also what is called cross-border crime, and there are some challenges facing the GCC countries like all other countries in the world,” said Al Hajri. The GCC countries have an agreement in place to fight terrorism and also have a strategy to fight extremism linked to terrorism, in addition there are many other security agreements and there is no dispute on that.
Al Hajri said: “Any country has the right in case it wants to develop or amend some clauses in the agreements or the agreements themselves, which is a healthy practice.” The next consultative meeting and annual meeting of undersecretaries of the GCC ministries of interior will be held in Riyadh next year.
Major-General Abdulaziz Al Ansari, Director, International Cooperation Department at Qatar’s Ministry of Interior, said the most prominent issues discussed related to fighting terrorism. He said GCCPOL will be effective, especially in accessing intelligence about terrorism and fighting it.
THE PENINSULA
