- The round focused on West Africa and ways to intensify efforts and international coordination to counter terrorism and extremist ideology - King holds bilateral meetings on the sidelines of meetings with leaders and heads of delegations Rome, Oct. 15 (Petra) His Majesty King Abdullah II and Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni co-chaired a new round of the Aqaba Process meetings in Rome on Wednesday, organised jointly by Jordan and Italy.
At the Aqaba Process’ second round with a West Africa-focus, participants discussed ways to intensify efforts and international coordination to counter terrorism and extremist ideology, highlighting the most pressing security challenges and developments in the region.
The sessions attended by His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, His Majesty’s chief adviser for religious and cultural affairs and personal envoy covered opportunities to strengthen mechanisms for countering terrorism at the global level through the exchange of expertise and the implementation of joint initiatives.
The round was attended by heads of state and government, officials and representatives of security and military institutions from Algeria, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Paraguay, Chad, Togo, Uzbekistan, Côte d'Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Ghana, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Spain, the United States, Denmark, and the Dominican Republic, as well as representatives from the African Union, the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, NATO, the European Union, and Interpol.
On the sidelines of the Aqaba Process meetings, His Majesty held separate meetings with Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Wonie Bio, Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Paraguay President Santiago Peña Palacios, Togo Prime Minister Faure Gnassingbé, Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev, and Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov.
Since the launch of the Aqaba Process initiative 10 years ago by the King, previous rounds have been held in Jordan, and other countries and organisations in partnership with Jordan, including Spain, Albania, the United Nations, Indonesia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Rwanda, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Norway, Nigeria, the Netherlands, and the United States.
The initiative aims to enhance security and military coordination and cooperation, and the exchange of expertise between various regional and international parties in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
Previous rounds of the Aqaba Process meetings focused on East Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, West Africa, and the Sahel.
//Petra// AF
