Riyadh-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, chaired on Wednesday the 17th Consultative Meeting of the Interior Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States.
Addressing the meeting, the Crown Prince conveyed greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to the participants and his permanent aspiration to maintain security of Gulf countries and people.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef noted that the stability and security enjoyed by GCC states have contributed tremendously to creating an appropriate environment for achieving economic, social and cultural development in the region at a time when most of the region’s countries witness turbulent security and difficult economic conditions.
“Security touches every person’s life, including those working for it as well as those benefiting from its presence. It is the safety valve that ensures the stability and dignity of nations, in the absence of which, God forbid; there will be losses, alienation and humiliation.”
“Therefore, maintaining security is the joint responsibility, religious obligation, and national requirement of all,” He added.
“Every citizen is responsible of safeguarding it,” the Crown Prince said, underscoring the need to stand united in stamping out the unprecedented threat facing the region in the form of terror.
He called for doubling efforts and strengthening cooperation as well as expanding horizons of continuous consultation and coordination between GCC security agencies.
“We are facing great challenges and unprecedented and serious criminal phenomena; maintaining security is a joint national and religious requirement,” he added.
For his part, GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani highlighted joint security cooperation among GCC states that has reflected positively on the advanced level of security services succeeding in the fight against crime and terrorism.
Following the meeting, Al-Zayani said that GCC General Secretariat is closely following the updates on the emergency risk plans in GCC states, adding that the GCC center for emergency management continues holding specialized training workshops in order to raise the capability and awareness as well as to intensify joint coordination between the member states.
He added that the ministers reviewed the contents of the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques that aim at reinforcing GCC security operations and appreciated the approval of this vision by the GCC leaders attending the 36th session held in Riyadh in December.
He said that the ministers directed the undersecretaries of the Interior ministries to follow up on the implementation of this ambitious vision, highlighting the signing of the cooperation agreement between Oman and Qatar in the field of security and applauding the important step that could reinforce security cooperation between the two brotherly countries.
The ministers also reviewed a number of reports submitted by the undersecretaries of the Interior ministries, including details of the meetings of the operations team of the joint GCC security exercise “Arabian Gulf Security1” and the latest work of the security team assigned to bring the GCC countries into one secure network.
Dr. Al-Zayani further said that Interior Ministers affirmed their commitment to the fight against terrorist groups threatening security and stability and praised the Saudi initiative to form an Islamic coalition to fight ISIS, an organization posing a major risk to the security and stability of the region and the world.