The head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism will start a two-day visit to Cairo, where he will discuss the “evolving threat of terrorism” with Egyptian officials, a UN Information Centre press release read Saturday. Undersecretary General Vladimir Voronkov will meet with Egypt's Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, as well as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs and International Security Ihab Fawzi, and Assistant Defence Minister for International Cooperation Mohamed El-Kishky. He is also set to meet with Egypt's Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Hossam Zaki, as well as a number of representatives of the diplomatic community and the UN country team. According to the statement, Voronkov will discuss with his counterparts “the evolving threat of terrorism and ways to enhance international cooperation in accordance with international law and the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy as well as relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.” The UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006, provides a comprehensive blueprint to guide member states' efforts to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism conducive to terrorism. The Global Strategy is reviewed every two years to ensure it is aligned with member states' needs in response to this rapidly evolving threat. The next review will take place in June 2018. The UN's Office of Counter-Terrorism was established in June 2017 to provide leadership on the implementation of General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates, to enhance coordination and coherence, and to strengthen the delivery of UN counter-terrorism capacity building assistance to member states.
