OSCE promotes public private partnership in combating terrorism

VIENNA, 1 June 2007 - The fight against terrorism must be as multidimensional as the threat itself. That was an important conclusion of the OSCE two-day conference on "Partnership of State Authorities, Civil Society, and the Business Community in Combating Terrorism," which ended today.

"In order to disrupt terrorist plans that target our community of values, to the greatest extent possible, our countries need to join forces," said Josep Borrell Fontelles, Special Envoy for the Spanish OSCE Chairmanship.

Governments rely on diplomacy, law enforcement, and military operations to fight against terrorism. However, the private and civil sectors are instrumental in promoting sustainable economic growth, helping generate changes quickly, creating jobs for minority communities, and using technology to connect with youth.

"Increasingly, the focus of the fight against terrorism has moved from military action to dealing with the environment which feeds terrorism with financial and human resources," said Anatoly Safonov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Co-operation in the Fight Against Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime. He also stressed the crucial importance of the ideological front in the struggle against terrorism.

A challenge for modern societies is to disrupt terrorist networks by interrupting their communications, recruitment and radicalization, training, intelligence and financing.

"We can no longer assume that every state can control and respond to threats emerging from its territory nor can we assume that weak and poorly governed states are merely a burden to their people or simply an international humanitarian concern," said Frank Urbancic, the U.S. State Department's Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism. "Technology has eliminated the distances that once separated us across land and sea."

The OSCE Political Public-Private Partnership Conference was organized by the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit, following an initiative of the Russian Federation and the United States. More than 300 participants gathered from 58 countries among the OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, representing state authorities, the private sector and civil society.

Borrell Fontelles added: "It is imperative to effectively connect the ideas and vision of decision-makers with the capabilities of practitioners all the way down to the grassroots level."