RIYADH, 9 February 2005 — The four-day counterterrorism conference concluded here yesterday after endorsing a Saudi proposal to set up an international center to combat terror.
“A task force has been established to further elaborate this proposal,” said the closing “Riyadh Declaration”. The communiqué, read out in Arabic at the closing session, did not say where the center would be based, but the head of one participating delegation said it would be set up in Switzerland.
“Any international efforts will not be sufficient to effectively combat the terrorism phenomenon if not conducted within the framework of joint actions and an all-inclusive strategic vision,” the final declaration said.
On Saturday, Crown Prince Abdullah opened the conference with a call for the establishment of a global center to combat and pre-empt terrorism.
But basic details were left to be decided later, including what exactly such a center should do, who would pay for it, and whether it should be based in Switzerland, New York or elsewhere.
Interior Minister Prince Naif said the agreement was the “key accomplishment” of the conference attended by security and intelligence officials from 50 countries around the world.
Prince Naif said the center could be an institute for research, training and sharing of expertise.
“There are various ways. It could be more of a think-tank, doing research papers, or more of an operational real-time thing,” US State Department official William Pope said. He said the United States would take part in the working group.
Sources said Saudi Arabia had proposed the center be established in Switzerland — which was not present at the meeting — but New York, Vienna, Cairo and Riyadh itself had also been suggested.
Acknowledging an issue repeatedly stressed by Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, the communiqué said that “terrorism has no specific religion, ethnic origin, nationality, or geographic location.”
“In this respect, it is of paramount importance to stress that any attempt to associate terrorism with any given faith will in fact serve the interests of terrorists,” it added.
A proposal to set up an international fund of seized assets to help victims of terrorism was dropped by the conference, a delegate said. “That did not go through,” the diplomat, who requested anonymity, said.
“Countries were encouraged to set up domestic bodies” to deal with seized terrorists’ money, said the communiqué.
On Monday, the Belgian head of a workshop on ties between terrorism and money laundering said a recommended international fund from seized terror money to help victims of terrorism had been approved.
But the recommendations were not spelled out in the communiqué and will only be made public in two weeks’ time after delegates discuss them with their respective governments, the diplomat said.
Even so, the proposed international fund was dropped from the list of recommendations, the source said.
