The Shura Council State of Qatar

The State of Qatar, represented in the Shura Council, signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations, represented in the Office of Counter-Terrorism, aiming at providing a framework for cooperation to enhance the role of parliaments in countering terrorism and the conditions related to this phenomenon, and to facilitate cooperation between the two sides in areas of mutual interest.

The MoU, signed at the UN headquarters in New York, states that the Shura Council and the UN enter into direct arrangements to establish the Office of the UN Counter-Terrorism Program, which will be concerned with the parliamentary participation in preventing and combating terrorism. The office's headquarters will be in the State of Qatar and its activities will cover the parliaments of world countries.

The MoU was signed by HE Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud and Under-Secretary-General of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, in the presence of President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Barron, a number of members of the Shura Council, HE Permanent Representative of the state of Qatar to the UN in New York Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, and a number of UN officials.

Following the signing of the MoU, HE Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud underlined the role of the State of Qatar in countering terrorism, noting that the establishment of the UN office in Doha affirms the confidence of the international community in the efforts exerted by the State of Qatar under the leadership of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to counter terrorism and address its roots and causes.

HE the Speaker of the Shura Council highlighted the essential role of parliaments in preventing and combating terrorism in light of their basic functions in enacting legislation, setting policies, allocating budgets, monitoring government actions, and ensuring the implementation of international pledges related to terrorism.

The Doha-based Office of the UN Counter-Terrorism Program will provide technical assistance and training to world parliaments in order to build capacity of parliamentarians to better understand and respond to terrorism-related issues, support the implementation of major initiatives within the framework of the joint United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union program on the role of parliaments in countering terrorism and violent extremism leading to terrorism, and promote a balanced and integrated implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and related Security Council resolutions.

HE the Speaker of the Shura Council said that the two sides agreed to start immediately the necessary arrangements to establish the office in Doha as soon as possible.

For his part, Voronkov praised HE the Speaker of the Shura Council for his personal and strong commitment to strengthening the cooperation with the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

He said that the partnership will indeed give the collective efforts of the United Nations and parliaments a new impetus to promote better contributions of parliamentarians to the international efforts to combat terrorism.