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  1. Second Roundtable of Counter-Terrorism Centers of Excellence

Second Roundtable of Counter-Terrorism Centers of Excellence

The Second Roundtable of Counter-Terrorism Centre’s of Excellence was organized 29-30 April 2025 in Riyadh under the theme “The Impact of New Technologies on Countering the Financing of Terrorism”. The two-day Roundtable was co-organized by the Presidency of State Security (PSS) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), through the UNCCT Global Programme on Detecting, Preventing, and Countering the Financing of Terrorism(CFT Programme).

The event addressed the urgent need to understand and respond to the increasing misuse of new and emerging technologies by terrorist actors, in particular for terrorism financing. These include virtual assets, blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial systems, or crowdfunding platforms and tools that can facilitate fast anonymous and cross-border transactions, challenging traditional monitoring and response frameworks.

Through expert panels and interactive discussions, participants and representatives of various entities explored how financial innovations can both pose risks and offer solutions, with a view to promoting a harmonized risk-based approach to CFT in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2462 (2019), and the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

For two days, the participants exchanged views on how to enhance cooperation, regional coordination, and capacity-building efforts through innovative and inclusive approaches. While reaffirming the critical importance of sustained efforts to effectively implement international standards, the discussions also identified additional, collaborative responses to counter the financing of terrorism around the world.

The Roundtable concluded with a summary of discussions and aimed at enhancing the collective response to terrorism financing threats in the digital age.

Background

The event brought together representatives from international and regional centers of excellence on counter-terrorism, along with government officials, and academics. The UNCCT Roundtables of Counter-Terrorism Centers, in partnership with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aim to strengthen a growing global network, and foster the exchange of learned lessons, good practices, and opportunities for joint programming and partnerships.

Quotes

The Chargé d’ Affaires of the United States Embassy in Riyadh, Ms. Alison Dilworth, underscored the importance of collaboration to ensure effective measures in the fight against terrorism financing, highlighting recent accomplishments at the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), which is co-chaired by the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

The High-Level Opening Session featured a speech by His Excellency Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Howairini, the Head of the PSS, who conveyed the greetings of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia leadership to the participants and emphasized the importance of combating the financing of terrorism, strengthening international partnerships, and discussing challenges and practical solutions, and advanced opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of counter-terrorism financing measures. He noted the role played by the United Nations in the field of combating terrorism and the importance of supporting it. He emphasized the importance of investing in new technologies and developing the capabilities of those working in the field of combating terrorism to keep pace with new and advanced technologies, wishing the participants success.
The Director of UNCCT, Mr. Mauro Miedico, further emphasized the need for technological innovation in tackling the evolving and complex threat of financing terrorism. He highlighted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a key strategic partner of UNCCT, whose generous support and continued commitment have been key in advancing the global counter-terrorism agenda. He also underscored the capacity-building achievements of the UNCCT Global Programme on Detecting, Preventing and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, which include the development of practical tools such as the goFintel software to improve financial analysis. Building on the success of the first Roundtable held in 2020, Mr. Miedico noted that this second edition demonstrated a shared ambition to strengthen collective responses to address the digital threats related to terrorism financing.