Russia lauds Bahrain's anti-terrorism commitment, Manama Declaration

Manama, Nov. 10 (BNA): Russia’s Ambassador to Bahrain, Victor Smirnov, has lauded the success of the meeting on Combating the Financing of Terrorism that took place in Manama on Sunday. “Due to the efforts of the Government of Bahrain, the meeting of experts was a success and had excellent organisation. It confirmed that Bahrain is deeply interested in common efforts to fight the challenges posed by international terrorism,” he said. “The meeting was of utmost importance as the rapid advance of terrorist organisations in the region and in the world threatens us all,” he said. “Blocking the transfer of financial funds to terrorist groups is one of crucial tasks. Stopping financing is half the battle to defeating them,” Ambassador Smirnov told Bahrain News Agency (BNA) on Monday. The Russian Federation is taking a long-standing and active part in the efforts to combat terrorism, which challenged the Russian state tremendously, he added. “This topic was discussed during the talks of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on October 12, 2014,” he said. “The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has constituently called the international community to unify the efforts on this track. He has called to stand against the terrorists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which began to grow during the last years. Participants of the yesterday's Expert meeting called for strengthening the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions relating to CFT as well as FATF Recommendations. The means of achieving deeper international and domestic cooperation between states and intelligence bodies were also addressed.” Ambassador Smirnov added that the Manama Declaration adopted by the participants at the conclusion of their meeting “encouraged capacity building and sharing methods of identifying terrorist financing risks and vulnerabilities.” “The participants who adopted the Manama Declaration clearly voted for distinct strategies to ensure that no country would be a channel to provide funds for terrorist organisations,” he said. “We understand that new challenges could arise and that we have a long road ahead. However, we are sure that together, sharing our expertise, we will succeed in putting an end to terrorist activities. We welcome the international community's efforts to combat the financing of terrorism and recommendations on how to enhance the global battle against this phenomenon,” Ambassador Smirnov said.