ForMin Aurescu to attend Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS /Daesh meeting

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate today in a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh, to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco, Agerpres reports.

According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), the meeting will be co-chaired by the US and Morocco, and expected to attend are over 75 officials from the countries and international organisations that are members of the coalition, including most of the NATO and the EU member states, partner countries in the Western Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, as well as the European Union, NATO, INTERPOL.

The ministerial meeting will review the actions of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS /Daesh over the past year and decide on the main guidelines for action and priorities for further fighting against the threat of terrorism at regional and global levels.

The main subject will be the security situation in Iraq, Syria, as well as the recent developments in terrorism on the African continent and in Afghanistan.

"Minister Bogdan Aurescu will highlight Romania's contribution under the auspices of the coalition, as Romania has been involved since 2016 both in the coalition forces (in the Inherent Resolve Operation and NATO Mission in Iraq) and by its contribution to stabilisation and reconstruction in the countries affected by ISIS/Daesh. At the same time, the head of Romanian diplomacy will use this opportunity to send a message of support for the coalition's efforts to defeat ISIS/ Daesh once and for all and to stop the risk of a resurgence of the threat of terrorist networks by an integrated approach that brings together the political, military, as well as the social and economic dimensions."

On the sidelines of the meeting, Aurescu will also hold a series of bilateral meetings.

In 2014, the United States announced the formation of an international coalition to fight ISIS/Daesh. To that end, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) was created. The coalition operates under UN Security Council Resolution 2,178 on foreign fighters and acts primarily as part of the US-led OIR operation under Article 51 of the UN Charter, with the aim of neutralising and, ultimately, destroying ISIS / Daesh. The coalition currently consists of 85 states and international organisations and has a US-coordinated secretariat in Washington.