Ambassador Greenstock, Chairman of the Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC), briefed member states on the work of the CTC on 25 February 2003.  The CTC had received 182 first round reports and 114 second round reports from member states to date.  Of these 213 had been reviewed so far.  9 States had yet to submit a report.  Ambassador Greenstock said that he had written to late and non-submitters asking them to submit the overdue reports by 31 March.

The Security Council Open Debate on Combating Terrorism on 20 February, following the Security Council Ministerial meeting on 20 January, had been an opportunity for Member States to set out their views on the work of the CTC to date.  Ambassador Greenstock particularly welcomed the input from international and regional organisations.   The CTC's action plan for follow-up to resolution 1456 had been published as a UN document (S/2003/191). 

Ambassador Greenstock announced that Reunión extraordinaria del CCT with International and Regional Organisations (IROs) had been brought forward a day to Thursday 7 March.  The main objective was to discuss ways of deepening links with a view to establishing a global counter-terrorism network.  The meeting would be closed but Member States were invited to attend as observers.

The CTC had agreed on a stepped-up approach to assistance.  The Sub-Committees would consider assistance needs and requests alongside monitoring the implementation of resolution 1373.   The Sub-Committees would identify for each State any problems or implementation issues, and offer guidance or advice on assistance to help Member States meet their obligations.  It was likely that the Sub-Committees would invite more Member States to attend to discuss these matters.  A working paper on the new approach was available to Member States, obtainable from the CTC Secretariat. 

Ambassador Greenstock said that Mr Seif El-Dwala of Egypt had joined the CTC Expert Team to work on Stage A  issues.   Ms Veronika Milinchuk of Russia had joined to work on Stage B issues.  John Forbes of the US would be joining shortly.  There was one further vacancy for a Technical Assistance Expert.