Countries must unite against cross-border crimes : Minister

Manama : Minister of Interior Lt General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa called for an international coordination among countries to fight cross-border crimes, as he participated in the International Defence  Exhibition and Conference “IDEX 2017” in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

“With the development and spreading of cross-border  crimes, there is urgent need for international coordination to fight them, as such tasks cannot be carried out by one country, especially if the crime has foreign sources. This requires further international cooperation through legislations and alliances to internationally fight crimes and criminals,” he said.

The conference was inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Emir of Dubai in the presence of Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,  Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.  Defence Ministers, Army leaders, specialists and experts from 57 countries, in addition to 1235 local and international defense industry companies also attended.

Shaikh Rashid also participated in  “Coalition”, the first meeting of the Interior Ministers of member countries of  the International Security Work Group on an invitation from Lt-General Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan , UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

During the meeting, a brief on the experience of the Kingdom in dealing with the use of social media in spreading and adopting measures against terrorism was also presented. 

It was also decided to launch the ‘Coalition’ as an international work group that cooperates to achieve security of societies through exchange of expertise. 

The Coalition’s  General Secretariat will be based in UAE and will be responsible of drafting the operational module of the coalition. 

The coalition will also work to support cooperation between member countries through exchange of expertise, experiences and successful practices, especially in fighting cross-border organised crimes and preventative measures.  The group also extended support  fighting all forms of extremisms and adressing challenges faced by security forces  in monitoring borders.