The UN inaugurates the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office in Madrid

The Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Vladimir Voronkov, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, have inaugurated the headquarters in Madrid of the Office for the Fight against Terrorism of the United Nations.

After the inauguration ceremony, Albares, Grande-Marlaska and Voronkov toured the facilities of the new Anti-Terrorism Office, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted as “representing an important milestone after several years of close work with the United Nations to strengthen the fight against terrorism through multilateralism”.

The Minister of the Interior wanted to reiterate the Spanish Government’s support for the activities of the United Nations Office to Combat Terrorism and underlined “Spain’s firm and unquestionable commitment to the fight against terrorism and the protection and protection of their victims”.

Voronkov thanked Spain for its support for the work of the Anti-Terrorism Office and stressed “the need to strengthen international cooperation against terrorism, an objective to which the Madrid Office of the Anti-Terrorism Office will actively contribute”.

The new office focuses on providing technical assistance and capacity building projects to countries around the world. It will focus, especially, on the fields of the protection of vulnerable targets -including critical infrastructures and public places-, the prevention of violent extremism -also through sports and youth participation-, the promotion and protection of human rights and support for victims of terrorism.

The office also focuses on facilitating bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism. It will also be able to take advantage of Spain’s experience and best practices in the fight against terrorism, to help implement these programs in the beneficiary countries.

The Counter-Terrorism Office and the Government of Spain signed the Host Country Agreement and the Premises Agreement for the creation of this Program Office in Madrid in June and September 2022, respectively.

Within the framework of his visit and also related to this new Office, Voronkov held meetings with the heads of the National Intelligence Centre of Spain, Esperanza Casteleiro; from the Department of National Security of the Presidency of the Government, General Miguel Ángel Ballesteros; and from the Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime of the Ministry of the Interior of Spain, General Manuel Navarrete.

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