Saudi Gazette report

Riyadh -- Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, will open the inaugural meeting of the ministers of defense of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) here on Sunday.

Lt. Gen. Abdulelah Al-Saleh, the IMCTC Acting Secretary General, said the meeting marks the official launch of the IMCTC’s operations.

The Center provides an open platform for IMCTC member countries to exchange best practices and coordinate their counterterrorism efforts, enabling culturally appropriate regional and local solutions to counter terrorism.

Gen. Rahil Sharif, the military commander of the IMCTC, said, “The biggest challenge in the 21st Century, especially in the Muslim world, is confronting the dangerous phenomenon of terrorism.

The IMCTC encompasses an integrated approach to coordinate and unite on the four key domains of ideology, communications, counter terrorism financing, and military, in order to fight all forms of terrorism and extremism and to effectively join other international security and peacekeeping efforts.”

The IMCTC is a 41-nation pan-Islamic coalition united in the fight against terror.

The Inaugural meeting, held under the theme “Allied Against Terrorism”, will include statements by Ministers of Defense of IMCTC member countries and keynote speeches.

Keynote speakers will also include Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al-Isa, secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), who will speak on the ideological aspect; Dr. Muhammad Al-Momani, Jordanian minister of state for information affairs and official spokesman of the Jordanian government will speak on the information aspect; and Dr. Ahmed Bin Abdulkareem Al-Khileifi, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) will speak on countering terror financing.