Countering terrorism wisely
Combating terrorism should not be aimed at achieving narrow political goals – as stated at a meeting of Belarus’ Foreign Minister, Vladimir Makei, and the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Voronkov, in New York
According to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s press service, the sides discussed topical issues of co-operation between Belarus and the UN in the fight against terrorism, also focusing on the challenges that the international community faces in the field of counter-terrorism liaisons.
Mr. Voronkov appreciated an active and constructive nature of Belarus’ contacts with the UN Counter-Terrorism Office. He thanked the Republic for organising and hosting the Combating Terrorism through Innovative Approaches and the Use of New and Emerging Technologies international high-level conference in Minsk in September 2019 jointly with the United Nations. That event laid a solid foundation and gave a serious impetus to subsequent multilateral forums on countering terrorism.
In turn, Mr. Makei informed on Belarus' support of counter-terrorism activities as part of regional associations, in particular, the CSTO. The sides agreed to intensify contacts between the UN Counter-Terrorism Office and the CSTO, taking into account the developing situation in Afghanistan, and also confirmed inadmissibility of manipulating the issues of combating terrorism in order to achieve narrow political goals. As noted, this hinders progress in co-ordination and adoption of new international agreements that meet modern challenges in the field of counter-terrorism.
