Dushanbe: Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Special Envoy for Combating Terrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Dr Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani has said that the blockade couldn’t prevent the State of Qatar from playing its active role in maintaining regional and international peace and security and combating terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations.

The delegation of the State of Qatar was headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Special Envoy for Combating Terrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Dr Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani.

The Envoy reminded the participants that the State of Qatar is under an unjust blockade that violated all values, international law, and international and humanitarian norms and obligations. He highlighted, however, that the blockade couldn’t prevent the State of Qatar from playing its active role in maintaining regional and international peace and security and combating terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations.

He said that the fight against terrorism and extremism was and will remain a top priority for the State of Qatar.

He reiterated Qatar’s commitment to cooperate with all countries, international and regional organisations, and with various United Nations bodies related to combating terrorism and combating violent extremism.

He added that the financial, technical and logistical contributions made by the State of Qatar in this regard are an affirmation of its conviction of combating terrorism, combating its financing and preventing violent extremism in all its forms.

Al Qahtani reminded the participants that member states of the United Nations adopted in September 2006 a global counter-terrorism strategy as a unique global instrument for strengthening national, regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.

He noted that since the adoption of the United Nations strategy, the State of Qatar has been keen to fully implement this strategy because of the important measures it has taken in accordance with its four pillars.

He stressed that terrorism and extremism are one of the most serious challenges facing the international community today, requiring cooperation of all regional and international efforts to address this phenomenon and terrorist organizations and their extremist ideologies.

He pointed out that the State of Qatar, through its active role in the fight against terrorism and extremism, has been able to create a million jobs for Arab youth at least 16 Arab countries through its institutions. Qatar also helped enable them economically to escape from the clutches of extremism and terrorism. He noted that the State of Qatar aims to create more than two million job opportunities for these young people by 2020.

“Other relevant State institutions have also been able to enroll 10 million children around the world in primary education in cooperation with relevant international, regional and national institutions in the belief that unemployment and illiteracy are one of the main reasons driving terrorism and violent extremism.”

He pointed out that Qatar is one of the founding members, the main actors and supporters of GCERF. It is also the only Gulf and Arab state to contribute to this fund, along with Switzerland, the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Netherlands and France. He added that the fund is the first global initiative to support the resilience of societies against violent extremist agendas, working by linking security and development, and is committed to supporting national strategies to address the local factors of violent extremism.

The fund is currently active in Mali, Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Kosovo and Myanmar and other States are being included as beneficiaries of the Fund and its programs. He also noted that The State of Qatar is an active member of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF), a 29-nation forum in addition to the European Union, which was established in 2011 to reduce the impact of terrorism and violent extremism on people around the world by preventing, combating and prosecuting terrorists.

The Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Combating Terrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution said that the State of Qatar is an active member of the International Coalition Against ISIS, and contributed significantly to the war on this organization in both Syria and Iraq with its partners and strategic allies, led by the United States of America.

The Conference adopted the Dushanbe Declaration, which has Qatar’s support, for the convening and organization of this international conference. The Declaration will be formally issued as a United Nations document.

Dr Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, held yesterday bilateral meetings with a number of officials on the sidelines of the conference.

The Special Envoy met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan, Sirodjidin Aslov; the Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Hekmat Khalil Karzai; Under-Secretary-General of the newly created United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov; and United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto. The meetings discussed bilateral relations and means of supporting and developing them, enhancing prospects for cooperation, and the Qatari mediation efforts in the process of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, in addition to matters of mutual interest.