OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2010. Moscow hosted an international conference entitled “Anti-Terrorist Partnerships between States, Businesses and Civil Society: Practice, Science and Education,” conjointly organized by the Peoples Friendship University of Russia, and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the aegis of the well-known Russian international initiative for strengthening public-private cooperation in countering terrorism.

The conference was attended by over 130 representatives of Russian and foreign government agencies involved in combating terrorism, international organizations, in particular, the leaders of the anti-terrorist units of the UN, SCO, CIS, OSCE and the Council of Europe, as well as representatives of Russian and foreign academic circles, political science institutes, religious institutions and public organizations.

Speaking at the opening of the conference were the event cosponsors – Friendship University Rector V. M. Filippov and Special Presidential Representative for international cooperation in combating terrorism and transnational organized crime A. E. Safonov – as well as Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation V. A. Sobolev, First Deputy Chairman of the Security Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation M. I. Grishankov, Chief of Staff of the National Antiterrorism Committee of the Russian Federation V. G. Kulishov, Head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Jean-Paul Laborde, Head of the OSCE action Against Terrorism Unit Raphael Perl, Head of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center A. P. Novikov, and Executive Committee Deputy Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Safarali Sayfulloev.

The conference discussed the results of the implementation of the Russian international initiative of public-private partnerships against terrorism, primarily through its flagship projects promoted by Russian companies Norilsk Nickel, Lukoil, the International Center of Consulting and Marketing, as well as by the Municipality of Moscow.

Of particular importance in our view was the in-depth discussion at the conference, of the possibilities of adequate scientific support of the tasks of public-private anti-terrorist cooperation, particularly through the systemic and committed involvement in such efforts of the scientific and educational potential of the Friendship University, one of Russia’s leading tertiary education institutions.

We look forward to the creation following the conference, on the basis of the proposals from the Friendship University, of a new, independent project of public-private partnership against terrorism, the institutional framework for which can be the University’s initiative backed by the conference participants, for establishing at its facilities an International Scientific-Educational and Expert Advisory Institute on Countering Terrorism and Extremism, designed to carry out constant study and generalization of the experience of the international community in the respective fields and to contribute to the adoption of scientifically substantiated recommendations and decisions in the practice of international anti-terrorist cooperation and in educational programs.