A number of international security officials praised the city of Marrakech for hosting the 93rd session of the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which continues until November 27, considering this event, which the Kingdom is hosting for the second time in its history, as an important milestone in the path of strengthening global police cooperation. At the same time, they emphasized their confidence in the results that will emerge from this session, given the security issues and challenges on its agenda that require formulating new directions and developing more effective working mechanisms to confront them.
In this regard, Major General Nasser Yousef Al-Mal, head of the Qatari delegation participating in Marrakech and in charge of the duties of Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Qatari Ministry of Interior, noted in an interview with Hespress that Morocco is organizing the “Interpol” meeting, with the participation of high-level delegations from a number of member states of the organization, highlighting that “this year’s General Assembly meetings are discussing a range of major security issues, from combating terrorism, drugs and transnational crime, and constitute an opportunity to hold discussion panels to exchange ideas, opinions and experiences among the delegations of member states.”
For his part, Brigadier General Tariq Al-Khader, a security official and representative of the State of Kuwait, considered that “the Kingdom of Morocco’s hosting of the meetings of the International Criminal Police Organization reflects its interest in international security cooperation and its readiness to host major international events and demonstrations,” adding that “the General Assembly will discuss in this session the issue of immunities and the preparation of original documents, which will restore the confidence of countries in this organization.”
The same spokesperson explained, in a statement to the Hespress electronic newspaper, that “the current assembly is one of the most important general assemblies of Interpol, as it will witness discussions on a range of issues that will determine the course of action in the coming years.”
In a related context, Eric Arilla, Director of the Public Security Service of the Principality of Monaco, confirmed that the latter “has long believed in the importance of the work of ‘Interpol,’ as the idea of the organization originated in Monaco when Prince Albert I worked to bring together countries that wanted to develop multilateral cooperation in the field of research and judicial police. The Principality hosted the first meeting that brought together 24 countries in 1914, but this path was interrupted by the First World War.”
The same security official continued, in a statement to Hespress: “Monaco is imbued with the vision of ‘Interpol,’ and we thank the Moroccan authorities for this organization, as there are security challenges today that are at the heart of our concerns and we will all discuss them, especially those related to the development of smuggling and drug trafficking methods, issues related to financial crime and the recovery of looted and illicit funds, in addition to the issue of cybercrimes.”
This year, police and security leaders from around the world are meeting in the Red City, Marrakech, for the Interpol General Assembly to discuss major policy decisions within the organization, the resources needed to stimulate and develop international cooperation, and financial matters related to the organization, which has 196 member states.
The agenda for this session includes a range of issues of security and strategic importance to the world's nations, including disrupting the activities of transnational organized crime networks, dismantling global fraud hubs, and expanding global police capabilities, as well as the role of women in policing. Discussions will also cover the results of the Silver Notice pilot project, which aims to track and recover criminal assets, and will promote the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime.
