El jefe de la Policía marroquí acude a la 46º cumbre de seguridad regional de Emiratos Árabes
The Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi is hosting this week the forty-sixth Arab Security and Police Leaders Conference in the region with the aim of further strengthening and deepening cooperation between relevant Arab authorities. The 2023 annual meeting will last two days, and the head of Morocco's Directorate General of National Security (DGSN) and Directorate General of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), Abdellatif Hammouchi, along with a large Moroccan delegation of security officials, travelled there on Monday, among many other international and regional representatives.
In addition, the representatives of the police and law enforcement agencies of the Arab States were joined by numerous representatives of international organisations, such as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the International Police Organisation (Interpol), the Criminal Court, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the African Union Police Cooperation Mechanism (Afripol) and the European Police College (CEPOL), as reported by the Emirati news agency WAM.
The President of the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS, a diplomatic organisation that functions as the scientific entity of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior and aims to promote training in the field of security), Prince Abdelaziz Bin Saud bin Naif, Minister of the Interior of Saudi Arabia, was also present. In fact, among the members of the NAUSS Governing Board is the head of the Moroccan police himself, Abdellatif Hammouchi, who joined this past year 2022 during the 48th session of the organisation, thus proving his reputation as an expert in the handling of security, intelligence and counter-terrorism issues.
The attendance of high-level Moroccan representatives, such as the widely recognised - in security and intelligence circles - Abdellatif Hammouchi, is the latest in the Kingdom's moves to further strengthen cooperation with its regional and international allies. Already last October, the head of DGSN-DGST received Major General of General Staff and Abu Dhabi Police pilot Faris Khalaf Al Mazrouei in Morocco to discuss cooperation against regional threats. This is in addition to the agreements reached by the Rabat and Abu Dhabi security services during a meeting in early December. The two sides agreed to set up a programme of exchange visits between senior officials from both sides, as well as the establishment of joint training and the provision of specialised courses and intelligence by the Moroccan DGST.
The summit between the regional security and police leaders will serve as a space "to discuss the results of the implementation of the recommendations made during [last year's] 45th Arab Police and Security Leaders Conference, and to address a number of pressing issues, such as the focus on money laundering crimes and the importance of a [joint] official security spokesperson," WAM reported.
The agenda of the meeting also includes a dialogue to promote and improve international and regional cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism and organised crime, as well as trafficking in human beings and organs. This will take into account the recommendations made by security conferences and committee meetings - of the General Secretariat of the Interior Ministers' Council in 2022. In addition, the results of the report on the work of the Arab Police Sports Confederation in 2022 will be presented. An Arab international organisation that aims to improve the sports movement within police forces: it promotes sports activities among police and security personnel to encourage the development of their physical and mental potential, and to improve cooperation between members and teams.
Finally, the 46th Arab Police and Security Leaders Conference will attend a presentation of relevant security experiences in the Arab world, and will set the date, location and agenda for the next annual meeting.