On Thursday, 1 / 07/2021, Naif Arab University participated in the 12th Conference of the Directors of the Arab Institute for Security Training and Qualification, with the attendance of representatives of the Ministries of Interior in each of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Tunisia, and the State of Palestine, while representatives of the Ministries of Interior in each of The United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Sudan, the Republic of Iraq, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Lebanon, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania participated virtually. Representatives from CEPOL, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and the General Secretariat of the Arab Interior Ministers Council also participated in the conference.
At the opening of the conference, His Excellency Dr. Detlev Schroeder, Executive Director of the Cepol, delivered a speech in which he thanked the General Secretariat of the Arab Interior Ministers Council for the organization of the conference and expressed his happiness to participate in it, pointing to the challenges posed by Covid-19 and aspects of the crises associated with this. The pandemic includes the exploitation by organized crime groups of weaknesses in the international cooperation of law enforcement agencies, and their activities in the areas of drugs, weapons, human trafficking, money laundering, cybercrime and international terrorism and illegal immigration Dr. Schroeder said: “We need to work together more closely to succeed in facing these challenges." In his speech, he gave a brief presentation on CEPOL's activities, its fields of work, and its desire to work on a wider scale of cooperation.
This was followed by a speech by His Excellency Dr. Abdulmajeed Abdullah Al-Banyan, President of Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, in which he welcomed all the participants, pointing out that Naif Arab University for Security Sciences - the academic body of the Arab Interior Ministers Council - looks with great interest to the work of the conference because of its focus on the rehabilitation and training of workers in Security fields, which is the field of work of the university, and because the human element is the basis for the success of security work. He also pointed out that the university launched its 2019-2023 strategic plan and designed its educational and training programs based on the needs of the Arab security services, and focused in the areas of these programs on priority security threats, especially terrorism, drugs, corruption, economic and cybercrimes, organized and cross-border crimes, in addition to the areas of crime prevention and criminal justice. He referred to the university's scholarship program and annual work program that is full of scientific activities. He praised the support the university received from the host country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and from their Highnesses and Excellencies the Arab Ministers of Interior.
Then, His Excellency the President of the Conference, Major General Ziad Taha Ali, head of the delegation of the Republic of Iraq, which chairs the current session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, delivered a speech in which he welcomed the participants, highlighting the importance of the conference, which is being held in light of the great challenges witnessed by the security services, foremost of which is the common challenge in counter-terrorism, in addition to what Covid-19 caused to the security services in the Arab countries and added new burdens no less dangerous than terrorism. He pointed out that all of this had a significant impact on the training and qualification process for the security services and the recession in training programs during the last period.
His Excellency stressed the importance of Arab cooperation in unifying the paths and directions of Arab security training to reach an advanced level in confronting crime and improving the performance of security men in Arab countries in eliminating crime, and for everyone to work to benefit from Arab training meetings.
The opening concluded with a speech by His Excellency Dr. Muhammad Ali Koman, Secretary-General of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, in which he welcomed the participants. His Excellency said: “Your conference is being held today and the world is witnessing an unprecedented crisis - a year and a half after the first infection with the emerging coronavirus - the Covid-19 pandemic still posing great challenges in various walks of life, and imposed on the various security agencies new responsibilities, and security training and rehabilitation institutions are not immune to being affected by this crisis nor isolated from coping with it. Rather, like other institutions, they need to devise innovative ways and approaches to fulfill their duties under the circumstances imposed by the pandemic.
His Excellency indicated that the General Secretariat was keen to give the necessary attention to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on security training and rehabilitation programs in the Arab world, and raised the issue on the agenda of this conference to be an occasion to review the experiences of the various member states in this field, reflecting an important aspect of the reality the epidemiological situation in the Arab region in terms of the repercussions of the pandemic and its repercussions on the tasks and activities of the security services in general, and the supporting security services in particular.
At the conclusion of his speech, His Excellency expressed his thanks to His Excellency Dr. Detlev Schroeder, Executive Director of the Agency, for his keenness to attend the conference despite the complexities of traveling in this difficult circumstance, and to His Excellency Dr. Abdulmajeed Abdullah Al-Banyan, President of Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, who is working hard to enhance Arab security qualification, and his attendance at the conference is the greatest evidence of this. He also extended his thanks to those who have taken the trouble to travel to participate in the conference and those who participated through the television circuit, asking God to save us from this epidemic and to bring us all together in Tunisia, the foundation of joint Arab security action very soon.
The conference called upon the General Secretariat of the Arab Interior Ministers Council and Naif Arab University for Security Sciences to coordinate with Cepol, to hold an Arab-European forum on security training, in conjunction with the 13th Conference of the Directors of the Arab Institute for Security Training and Qualification to be held in 2023.
He also urged security training and rehabilitation institutions in the member states to participate in the second forum for education and training in security institutions that Naif Arab University for Security Sciences intends to organize during the period 8-10 November, 2021 and enrich its work. The recommendations of the conference urged member states to benefit from the experiences and presentations that were presented during the conference.
The recommendations were referred to the General Secretariat in preparation for submitting them to the next session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, for consideration and adoption.