Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz inaugurated in Riyadh today the Counter-Terrorism International Conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participating in the four-day conference are representatives of over 50 countries and a number of Arab, regional and international organizations. In his speech, Crown Prince Abdullah denounced the false slogans that have been raised by deviant groups as running counter to the teachings of Islam. The convening of the conference, he said, is evidence that the victims of terrorism are from a number of countries, differing in culture and religion; and that the international community is determined to confront such crimes together with their false ideas and extremist rhetoric.

Crown Prince Abdullah went on to link terrorist networks with those of the arms trade, drug smuggling and money laundering. Expressing the hope that the conference would lead to effective international cooperation, he called for the establishment of an international center for combating terrorism to facilitate exchange of information in order to prevent terrorist acts, and declared that in the end, the forces of love, tolerance and peace will triumph.

In his speech, the UN’s Executive Director for Combating Terrorism Javier Roberice commented that terrorism, which threatens all civilized people, is forbidden by all religions; and announced that the United Nations would soon reveal a comprehensive strategy to combat it. Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu reiterated that Islam considers terrorism as a great crime and corruption on earth; pointed out the falseness of the claims of deviant groups that they have a religious mandate; and declared that terrorism is the product of a perverted ideology. Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Amr Mousa, affirming that terrorism is an international issue, declared that the Arab League is ready to contribute to the establishment of an international center to combat terrorism as proposed by Crown Prince Abdullah. Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah expressed the GCC’s support for the Crown Prince's proposal; and Secretary-General of the Muslim World League (MWL) Dr Abdullah bin Abdulmohsin Al-Turki also praised the proposal, stressing that terrorism is one of the greatest of human crimes.

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