The Chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), Amb. Hardeep Singh Puri (Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York), urged for greater cooperation and coordination between the Committee and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM). Ambassador Puri, in his address at the opening ceremony of the VII PAM Plenary Session, held in Malta on 12-13 October, 2012, also invited PAM to New York, in order to explore with the Committee further cooperation in the global fight against terrorism.
“PAM’s aims and objectives are not only complementary but add strength to the efforts of the United Nations to build a world in which there is freedom from fear; a world in which we are free to channel our energies into furthering the common good”, Amb. Puri stated.
The success in the fight against terrorism, Amb. Puri said, goes hand-in-hand with progress in strengthening counter-terrorism cooperation and exchange of information at the international, regional and sub-regional level.
The CTC Chairman highlighted the fact that statistics indicate that the share of terrorism in global violence is at an all-time high, and of particular concern to the Mediterranean is the threat posed by Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
With reference to the progress made by the international community in combating terrorism, Amb Puri praised PAM for its pioneering effort in adopting a definition of terrorism as early as 2009.
Amb. Puri called for more political will to face the challenge of terrorism. This can be achieved through the expansion of the scope of the legal instruments and the normative framework to cambat international terrorism, taking into account the increasingly sophisticated and globalised terrorist challenges.