The CSTO Deputy Secretary General V. Semerikov participated in the Second Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of UN Member States

The Second Conference of the Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of the United Nations Member States, initiated by Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, was held in New York on June 28-30, 2021. The Conference addressed the overarching theme of combating and preventing terrorism in an era of transformative technologies and meeting the challenges of the New Decade. The Conference was attended by heads of counterterrorism agencies and foreign ministers of the UN member States.

The delegation of the CSTO Secretariat was headed by the CSTO Deputy Secretary General, Valery Semerikov, who made a presentation via videoconferencing on the urgent need to strengthen international and regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the new decade.

Addressing the Conference participants, V. Semerikov said: "In 2022 the CSTO will celebrate its 20th anniversary. During this relatively short period of time for the Organization, certain experience has been accumulated and the potential has been created, which allowed to adequately respond to a wide range of challenges and threats. Our practical achievements in the Organization's format in various areas of activity have repeatedly found a positive response from the specialized structures of the United Nations, the OSCE, the CIS and the SCO. This testifies to our close cooperation on the anti-terrorist track of the security agenda, both regionally and globally.

Further in his speech the CSTO Deputy Secretary General underlined how much the joint work was needed now - when on the background of a great potential for conflict, real danger of the existing international security architecture being dismantled, crisis of confidence and confrontation, international peace was threatened by global terrorism, which covered a large geostrategic area, expanded the area of its actions, using in its subversive activities new technological achievements, including information and communication technologies.

Given the great interest in the activities implemented by the CSTO shown by the representatives of specialized structures of the UN, the OSCE, the CIS, the SCO and experts of individual states. Valery Semerikov called on international and regional organizations and individual states not only to become observers to the CSTO, but also to take part in CSTO events as a full partner.

At the end of his speech, the CSTO Deputy Secretary General informed the conference participants about the intention, dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic, to create a CSTO coordinating council on biological security, and expressed his hope to support the initiative, voiced at the last session of the UN General Assembly by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to create an international agency for biological security accountable to the UN Security Council.

"I want to express confidence that today's conference will contribute to the development of additional practical measures for cooperation and combination of efforts in maintaining peace and security," Semerikov said.

According to the format approved by the organizers, the Conference consisted of five sessions that addressed such issues as:

- global threats of terrorism: assessing current threats and emerging trends for the new decade;

- preventive measures in the era of transformative technologies;

- protecting human rights and promoting gender responses in countering terrorism in the era of transformative technologies;

- the imperative of strengthening international and regional cooperation against terrorism in the new decade;

- preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism in the era of transformative technologies;

- responding to new and evolving challenges in countering terrorism in the new decade.

Because of the limitations of COVID-19, the Conference was held in a mixed (face-to-face and virtual) format, which allowed only the member States delegates to attend in person.