SLIDE SHOW: National Security Minister the Hon OAT “Tommy” Turnquest said at the end of the Tenth Regular Session of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) that the past three days of discussions and expert presentations had validated the theme proposed by The Bahamas, and proven that the idea of public/private partnerships in the fight against terrorism was something the CICTE member states could explore to their gain. The Bahamas chairs the CICTE until March 2011.

WASHINGTON, DC -- National Security Minister the Hon OAT “Tommy” Turnquest, who chaired the 10^th regular session of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), said at the end of the three-day conclave that discussions over the course the session underscored the validity and legitimacy to the Bahamas-proposed theme “Public/Private Partnerships In The Fight Against Terrorism”.  

Mr Turnquest, whose work as Chair of the meeting was supported by The Bahamas’ National Point of Contact for the CICTE Peter Deveaux-Isaacs and Second Secretary Charice Rolle, said he had been honoured and privileged to hold the chair.  

On the aptness of the theme, he said, “It was our intention during these deliberations to assemble a group of presenters with technical competence and solid backgrounds in the area of the public/private partnerships to begin to create a framework for us to explore this very important concept in our comprehensive and multidimensional response to terrorism.”  

“All of the presenters provided practical and substantive information on the establishment of public/private partnerships,” he said.  

At the end of the three-day session, the CICTE adopted both the draft work plan for the next year and the draft declaration prepared by The Bahamas. The declaration will serve as a guide for the work of the committee over the coming year.  

“The Declaration that we have approved,” the Minister said of the document, “is a statement of our commitment to consider public/private partnerships in preventing, combating and eliminating terrorism including in critical infrastructure, port, maritime and civil aviation security, security in major events and crisis management.”  

In that declaration, CICTE Member states reaffirmed that terrorism has no justification and constitutes a grave threat to the lives, well-being and fundamental freedoms of all people.  

While stressing that preventing and countering terrorism, and managing the consequences of terrorist acts, is the responsibility of the state, the document stated that the active involvement of private sector and civil society can complement ongoing governmental counterterrorism activities because of their economic resources, efficiencies reflected in fast and flexible responses to market and security conditions, innovative capacities and information networks.  

The Declaration says that “terrorism is a scourge without boundaries and states therefore resolve to reinforce existing national and international measures and strategies to examine, as appropriate, new multilateral cooperation strategies designed to strengthen the fight against terrorism.”  

States also declared their commitment to “identify and to counter emerging terrorist threats, and likewise to develop and/or adopt national plans and cooperative programs, including mechanisms to exchange information and best practices to prevent, combat and eliminate such threats.”

The Declaration also laid out a framework for cooperation between CICTE Member states in areas like exploring the role civil society could play in a comprehensive and multidimensional response to terrorism, and a commitment to establishing mechanisms to facilitate both the exchange of information and the sharing of existing best practices and the development of further best practices between stakeholders in countering terrorism.  

Over the course of three days, CICTE Member states heard presentations by technical experts like Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan, the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations and Ambassador Apakan who spoke about the work of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee.  

Presenters discussed Public/Private Partnerships in the protection of critical infrastructure, security for major events, and maritime security.  

The Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, Jean-Paul Laborde, closed the conference.