V. Rybakov participates in a briefing by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism
23.10.2019On October 23 Valentin Rybakov, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN, took part in a briefing organised by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism on events that have occurred in the fight against terrorism since August.
One of the central events during this period was the International High-Level Conference of the Republic of Belarus and the United Nations “Countering Terrorism Through Innovative Approaches and the Use of New and Emerging Technologies”, organised for OSCE and ASEAN states on September 3-4 in Minsk.
The Conference in Minsk brought together more than 400 senior representatives of governmental authorities and experts from 55 states from the OSCE and ASEAN regions, ten international and regional organisations, as well as representatives of civil society, private sector and academia.
The Conference discussed the potential threats of new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, practical aspects of introducing the latest passenger safety control systems, as well as best regional and national experiences and ways to counter unlawful use of new technologies by terrorists.
Summing up (statement — in Russian) the results of the Conference in Minsk during the briefing, V. Rybakov pointed on the uniqueness of not only its theme, but also its scope that allowed the participation of states from two regions – OSCE and ASEAN.
The head of the Belarusian Mission separately identified four aspects to which states paid special attention during the Conference: the need to develop rules of responsible behavior in the virtual space, including the initiative by the President of Belarus A. Lukashenko to create a “a belt of digital good neighborhood”; the demand for a better understanding of new and emerging technologies by states; perspectives of developing and implementing passenger data exchange systems in the fight against foreign terrorist fighters; significant differences in approaches in the context of preventing the misuse of new and emerging technologies.
All these aspects indicate the need for close coordination of the efforts of states and the United Nations to form a united counter-terrorist front.
Other briefing participants, including UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism V. Voronkov, Permanent Representatives of Hungary and the UAE to the United Nations, representatives of Interpol and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, praised the Minsk Conference.
