Qatar Enhances Cooperation with Europol on Law Enforcement Field

The Hague, October 06 (QNA) - The Ministry of Interior signed an agreement with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) in the area of security cooperation and combatting the organized crime. Director of the Human Resources Department at the Ministry of Interior Major General Khalifa Nasr Al Nasr signed the agreement for the Qatari side, Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle signed for the European Union Agency side. The agreement aims to boost security cooperation between the State of Qatar and the members states in the European Union through a secure system to share information among various parties in order to link the state of Qatar with the law enforcement agencies in EU member states, and several other countries and EU organizations. The agreement also aims to enhance the cooperation ties among the parties in pursuit of serving the mutual interests to achieve a great deal of cooperation for the sake of effective contribution in combating all forms of crime, as well as share security, technical, and technological information and expertise in combatting crime. Under the agreement, the two parties shall boost the cooperation in the area of upgrading the modern systems, provide the mutual assistance to counter cross-border serious organized crimes, support cooperation and coordination among them in the areas of maintaining security and enforcing the sufficient measures to achieve that. The area of cooperation includes sharing the professional experiences, results of the analysis process at strategic levels, engage in training programs and lend the counselling and support in criminal investigation processes. Major General Khalifa Nasr Al-Nasr outlined that the signing of this agreement comes within the framework of the directives of HE Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani, adding that such level of cooperation will play a crucial role in determining the priorities when handling cross-border organized crimes that affect both Europol and the State of Qatar, hailing the step that came in a crucial time and will invest in the areas of sharing security experiences between the concerned entities in the state of Qatar and the member states of (Europol), adding that the efforts made a success in achieving a critical step on the track of enhancing the cooperation mechanisms in law enforcement areas between the State of Qatar and Europe, while at the global level it is difficult for any country to operate alone, therefore the State of Qatar sought to determine and enhance the cooperation frameworks with the global pioneering entities in law enforcement areas. He clarified that capitalizing on the work tools and international relations network owned by Europol will significantly contribute to bolstering security at the national and regional levels. For her part, Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle said that the fruitful cooperation between the law enforcement agencies in the State of Qatar and their counterparts in EU will start today, pointing out that Europol aspires to host a liaison officer from the State of Qatar to operate from Europol Headquarters in The Hague, which will promote the trust in the mechanisms of information flow and support the joint efforts in the fight against organized crime and terrorism. The agreement will allow the State of Qatar to appoint a liaison officer to operate from Europol Headquarters in Netherlands, which offers an opportunity for the state of Qatar to engage in a security community that comprises numerous liaison offices of law enforcement agencies in more than 40 countries worldwide. (QNA)