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Counter Terrorism |
Terrorism poses a direct threat to APEC's vision of secure, open and prosperous economies.
APEC Leaders have pledged to help secure the region's people and its economic, trade, investment and financial systems from terrorist attack or abuse and trade-based money laundering. Their commitments to undertake individual and joint actions to counter terrorism are expressed in two principle statements - the 2001 APEC Leaders Statement on Counter-Terrorism and the 2002 Statement on Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Growth - and in every subsequent annual Leaders' Declaration.
Bearing in mind Leaders' instructions to monitor progress and build capacity in counter-terrorism, the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force was established in May 2003 to:
- coordinate the implementation of Leaders' Statements and commitments on fighting terrorism and enhancing human security
- assist members to identify and assess counter-terrorism needs
- coordinate capacity building and technical assistance programs
- cooperate with relevant international and regional organisations
- facilitate cooperation between APEC fora on counter-terrorism issues.
APEC Leaders also emphasise the important role played by the UN and its Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, and have stressed the need for implementation, where applicable, of UN counter-terrorism measures and the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing.
Achievements
Counter Terrorism Action Plans
Counter Terrorism Action Plans were developed in 2003 as a tool for tracking the progress of economies in implementing Leaders' directions on APEC's security and counter-terrorism related work program, and for identifying the capacity building assistance required by member economies to implement these measures.
Secure Trade in the APEC Region (STAR)
One of APEC's key counter-terrorism priorities is the Secure Trade in the APEC Region (STAR) initiative, which aims to secure and enhance the flow of goods and people through measures that protect cargo, ships, international aviation and people in transit. STAR programs are designed to include the private sector, in recognition of the fact that the engagement and active participation of business is fundamental to the success of APEC's secure trade agenda. Annual APEC STAR Conference have been organised since 2003. The conferences bring executives and government officials together to identify impediments to and solutions for promoting trade efficiency while ensuring security.
A number of major counter-terrorism initiatives related to secure trade, trade recovery, food defense, counter-terrorism financing, aviation security, cybersecurity and public-private partnerships were implemented in 2008.
They include: the APEC Best Practices in Post-Blast Scene Management Workshop; the APEC Seminar on Protection of Cyberspace from Terrorist Use and Attacks; the APEC Workshop on Trade Recovery Programme (TRP); a test of the Aviation Security Emergency Points of Contact Network; the STAR VI Conference; a workshop on Effective Public Private Partnerships in Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade; the APEC Seminar on Securing Remittance and Cross Border Payments from Terrorist Use; and the APEC Workshop on detecting and deterring cash couriering and bulk cash muggling. The Task Force also endorsed the best practice document on the Protection of Critical Energy Infrastructure.
Current Activities
The CTTF has successfully implemented a number of projects during the first half of 2009.
Counter-Terrorism Financing
APEC Workshop on Improving Regulation of the Non-Profit Organisation Sector (Bangkok, Thailand, 13-15 May 2009)
The workshop gave participants the skills, knowledge and tools to work with NPOs in their economy to create a healthy and vibrant sector, free of terrorists and criminals. Participants identified options for improving regulatory frameworks and methods to enhance regional cooperation. Importantly, participants shared experiences and international best practice in the oversight of NPOs.
Second APEC Workshop on Detecting and Deterring Cash Couriering and Bulk Cash Smuggling (Sydney, Australia, 9-12 June 2009)
The four-day workshop was designed to assist Asia-Pacific financial intelligence units, border control agencies and law enforcement agencies to detect and prevent the smuggling of cash between APEC economies. It included a desk-top exercise. The workshop built on outcomes from the first workshop held in Manila in December 2008.
Aviation Security
A workshop entitled, Optimize the Use of Audits and Investigation to Strengthen Aviation Security in APEC economies, was held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam on 15-16 April 2009. The objective was to help participating economies conduct internal audits and investigations in compliance with the International Civil Aviations Organization's standards and recommended practices, in order to improve and sustain the integrity of aviation security systems in APEC economies. Participants also shared experiences in establishing domestic aviation security quality control programs.
Trade Recovery Program Pilot
In response to APEC Leaders' suggestions made in Sydney in 2007, a group of APEC economies led by Singapore participated in the APEC Trade Recovery Program Pilot exercise in April 2009. It was conducted in two phases:
- Phase 1 (20-24 April 2009): participants conducted a desk-top simulation of a terrorist attack on a regional port and communicated from their respective economies;
- Phase 2 (28-30 April 2009): participants met in Singapore to discuss the lessons learnt.
Other initiatives and projects endorsed by the CTTF for implementation in the second half of 2009 include:
Secure Trade
The STAR VII Conference will be held in Singapore on 30-31 July. The theme for this year's conference is "Enhancing Trade Security and Economic Resilience", and separate sessions are scheduled to cover the following five topics:
- Security threats to the global economy.
- Towards trade security, resilience and effective trade recovery.
- An integrated approach to secure trade.
- Building trust and transparency.
- Towards trade security, resilience and effective trade recovery.
Food Defense
The Second APEC Food Defense Pilot Project with Thailand: Putting Principles into Practice is under implementation. This pilot project is focusing on three key areas: engendering food defense awareness among stakeholders; encouraging close communication and collaboration on food defense issues between stakeholders; and developing, through private-to-private partnerships, food defense plans for individual companies. The experiences and lessons learned from the pilot project will be captured and used to create a case study example that will be shared with all APEC members.
The food defense pilot project wrap-up meeting will be held on Sunday 2nd August in the margins of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force's meeting. The objective of the wrap-up session is to provide in detail the outcomes and the lessons learned from the pilot initiatives on how to help businesses and economies protect their food supply from attack, with an eye to determining the next steps for APEC-wide implementation of a food defense initiative.
Counter-Terrorism Financing
A series of seminars on current and emerging trends in money laundering and terrorism financing will be conducted in 2009 and 2010. The seminars are aimed at enhancing the capacity of APEC economies to identify and assess vulnerabilities from current and emerging money laundering and terrorism financing methods, techniques and trends.
Counter Terrorism Task Force (CTTF) - Key Contacts
Chair
Ambassador Masafumi Ishii
Ambassador in Charge of International Security Policy and Policy Planning
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Japan
APEC Secretariat
Mr Hellmut Lagos
Director (Program)
E-mail: hl@apec.org
Reviewed on: 9th July 2009.