Egypt, EU co-chair 13th ministerial meeting of Global Counterterrorism Forum in New York

CAIRO – 20 September 2023: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has warned against repeating past mistakes that led to providing terrorist groups with safe havens, enabling their members to move from one region to another.

Shoukry made the remarks while co-chairing the 13th Ministerial meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell on Wednesday.

The meeting took place on the margins of the high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zied said in statements following the ministerial meeting, during which Shoukry shed light on the magnitude of suffering inflicted upon some peoples due to terrorism and its repercussions.

Shoukry underscored the need for consolidating international efforts to uproot terrorism, following innovative approaches that are in line with subsequent developments, while working for drying up the terror networks' sources of finance, the spokesman said.

As a co-chair of the meeting, Cairo has placed rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-terrorists as a main issue on the meeting Agenda, Abu Zied added.

Shoukry also touched upon Egypt's comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, taking into account the security, economic, and social dimensions of the heinous phenomena, the spokesman noted.

The Global Counterterrorism Forum is an informal, apolitical, multilateral counterterrorism platform. It is small, nimble, inclusive, and consensus-based. Its overarching mission is to reduce the vulnerability of people worldwide to terrorism by mobilizing expertise and resources to prevent, combat, and prosecute terrorist acts and counter incitement and recruitment to terrorism.

The Forum brings together policymakers and practitioners from around the world to share experiences and expertise, and to develop practical, publicly available tools and strategies on how to prevent and counter the evolving terrorist threat. The GCTF is currently co-chaired by Egypt and the European Union.