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United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre Launches First Virtual Exposition: “Virtual Expo — Real Impact”

NEW YORK, 7 July (United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism) — The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre launched its first virtual exposition on 7 July as part of the United Nations Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week, which is taking place from 6 to 10 July.

Responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre has rapidly adapted its approach to create an immersive digital exposition to engage a wide audience across the globe.  The virtual expo takes visitors on an interactive digital journey, exploring the Centre’s history and priority capacity‑building efforts through the key thematic areas of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

The launch was hosted by the Chairman of the United Nations Counter‑Terrorism Centre Advisory Board, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations; Vladimir Voronkov, Executive Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre and Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism; and Jehangir Khan, Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre.  Amani Alkhiami, Junior Professional Officer at the Centre, also took part in the launch.

Organized with support from Saudi Arabia, the virtual expo showcases the Centre as a global leader in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism through capacity‑building efforts around the world.  It highlights the Centre’s partnerships with Member States, regional, international and civil society organizations, and other key stakeholders.  It emphasizes the importance of the Centre’s "all-of-UN" and “all-of-society” approach to countering both terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism.

Further, the virtual expo spotlights the Centre’s support for Member State efforts to implement programmes across the four pillars of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in a comprehensive and balanced manner.  This includes its global programme to facilitate engagement with victims of terrorism.  The virtual expo also showcases how the Centre is addressing cutting-edge issues such as cyber- and bioterrorism, crisis communications and border security, encouraging audience engagement through interactive videos, quizzes and immersive digital simulations.

The virtual expo will run for four weeks online.  During this time, Mr. Al‑Mouallimi and Mr. Voronkov encourage “all Member States to continue collaborating with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre to ensure their effective and full implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.  Only by coming together as a global community can we defeat terrorism.”

For more information, please visit www.un.org/counter-terrorism-expo and www.un.org/counterterrorism/2020-counter-terrorism-week.

For information media. Not an official record.