RIYADH — The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center (UNCCT) and the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism.

The MoU was signed by the Undersecretary-General of the United Nations for Counter-Terrorism and Executive Director of the UNCCT, Vladimir Voronkov, and the Secretary-General of Etidal, Mansour Al-Shammari. The permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi was also in attendance in his capacity as chairman of the advisory board of UNCCT.

The signing of the MoU demonstrates the willingness of UNCCT and Etidal to join forces to support the efforts of the international community to address the scourge of terrorism and prevent the spread of extremist ideologies. It takes place in the context of UNCCT’s endeavor to foster international cooperation between and among centers of excellence working on PCVE.

This agreement will lead to the development of joint projects supporting the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Activities will include capacity-building workshops in the field of strategic communications to prevent violent extremism and countering the use of the internet for terrorist purposes as well as awareness raising campaigns on youth engagement, tolerance and support for victims of terrorism.

In his speech, Ambassador Al-Mouallimi welcomed the signing between UNCCT and Etidal and highlighted the key role of UNCCT as a Centre of Excellence. “Today’s MoU with UNCCT reflects Saudi Arabia’s keen interest and its continuous commitment to combating terrorism,” he added.

Vladimir Voronkov said that “the MoU marks the start of our plan to develop a sustainable, practical partnership between our two organizations, leveraging our respective comparative advantages in technology, analysis and global capacity building. This Memorandum of Understanding will allow UNCCT and Etidal to find synergies in our work as centers of Excellence in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and to share good practices in combatting the spread of violent extremist ideology.”

Mansour Al-Shammari emphasized the commitment of Etidal to support the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. “This is what we embody today in signing of the Memorandum of Understanding as we seek for cooperation and partnership in a systematic, accurate and professional manner, using the Center's capabilities of ideological, media and digital assets in order to achieve the desired noble goals.”