The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, inaugurated on June 24, 2021, the headquarters of the United Nations Program Office for Counter-Terrorism and Training in Africa with the participation, by videoconference, of the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT), Mr. Vladimir Voronkov.
This ceremony took place in the presence of the accredited diplomatic missions in Rabat. The event was broadcasted live at the UN Headquarters to allow the 2nd International Counter-Terrorism Week attendees to participate and follow it.
The new Office will develop and carry out accredited programs aimed at capacity building and skills development in the field of counterterrorism, particularly security, investigation and prosecution, prison and borders management, disengagement, rehabilitation and reintegration.
This new regional office will build on the pooling of expertise of Morocco and UNOCT in order to provide quality training for African States, in a collaborative and responsible approach.
The choice of Morocco as a partner for the establishment of this Program Office is a recognition of Morocco’s leading regional role and its National Strategy to Combat Terrorism and Violent Extremism launched under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
The establishment of the program in Morocco is in continuation with the Kingdom’s commitment to promoting African questions within the diplomatic initiatives undertaken by Morocco, in accordance with the Very High Guidelines defined by His Majesty King Mohammed VI. UNOCT was created in June 2017 to assist the efforts of the various UN institutions in their missions to support Member States in the implementation of the UNs Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.