September 20, 2023
An International Conference on Countering Terrorism and Extremism was held under the auspices of the Kyrgyz Republic presidency in the Commonwealth of Independent States in Bishkek on September 20, 2023. The event was co-organized by the State Committee of National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic and CIS Anti-Terrorism Center.
The Conference was attended by the heads of:
competent authorities of eight CIS member-states (Azerbaijan Republic, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Uzbekistan);
competent authorities of 4 SCO member-states which are not part of the CIS (Republic of India, Islamic Republic of Iran, People's Republic of China, Islamic Republic of Pakistan) and SCO observer states (Mongolia);
working structures of 10 constituent and branch cooperation bodies of the CIS (Executive Committee, Council of the Heads of Security Bodies and Special Services, Council of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Council of the Commanders of the Border Forces, Coordinating Council of Prosecutor Generals, Council of the Interior Ministers, Council of the Heads of Financial Intelligence Units, Council of the Heads of Customs Services, Inter-State Aviation Committee, Anti-Terrorism Center);
executives bodies of 8 international organizations (UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, Executive Directorate of UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, UN Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, UN Office for Drugs and Crime Program Office in Bishkek, General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), OSCE Program Office in Bishkek, Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, Secretariat and Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Secretariat and Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia, Central Asian Regional Information and Co-ordination Center);
3 scientific research and educational institutions (CIS Base Organization for Researching Issues of Countering Terrorism and Other Manifestations of Extremism, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Academy of Military Science of the Russian Federation).
During the Conference the participants:
exchanged national best practices in countering terrorism and extremism, discussed the state of scientific support to the mentioned efforts and international counter-terrorism cooperation;
reviewed trends of formulation and development of the terrorist threats in the CIS area, noted their solicitousness for the situation in Afghanistan and some Middle East states which creates hotbeds of tension in close vicinity of the Commonwealth borders, expressed concern over rising risks of penetration of terrorist-fighters into the territory of the Central Asian states, including through migration channels and streams of refugees, leakage of weapons and ammunitions from the armed conflict zones, as well as terrorist use of advanced information and technical advantages, including artificial intelligence technologies, unmanned and robotic systems;
reiterated firm stance on further development and strengthening of multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation having noted a core role of the United Nations in coordination of the international efforts to counter terrorism and extremism, draw attention to the necessary systematic implementation of practical events envisaged by the UN and CIS anti-terrorist programs, use of wider capacity of the regional structures, including CIS, SCO, CSTO, EAG, CICA, CARICC in the fight on terrorism and extremism;
noted a role of the CIS Base Organization for Researching Issues of Countering Terrorism and Other Manifestations of Extremism in scientific support to the anti-terrorism activity in the CIS area having indicated positive results of its work, including the elaborated Advanced research program for 2023-2027 and coordinated assessment of the forecasted terrorist threats in the CIS area.
Taking into consideration the held discussion, the Conference participants noted the importance of continuing work aimed at harmonizing the legislation of the CIS member states in the field of combating terrorism, increasing the level of cooperation between the competent authorities and international organizations, including in the field of information exchange.
The parties agreed on the need to expand the research activities of the scientific organizations and develop effective methods and technologies for countering terrorism and extremism in the CIS, and spoke in favor of continuing the practice of exchanging scientific and methodological publications on the burning counter-terrorism and counter-extremism issues.
A ceremony of formal exchange of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the CIS ATC and the SCO RATS, signed in May this year in Moscow, took place on the sidelines of the Conference.
The signed Memorandum reflects the results of the accumulated experience of cooperation, the established practice of joint efforts in the legal, coordination, information-analytical, educational, methodological and scientific-organizational lines of activity.
The document serves to further strengthen cooperation between the organizations and will give additional impetus to the development of relations in the anti-terrorist sphere.
An outcome document was adopted as a follow-up of the Conference.
