Security Council meeting 6128

The President

I should like to inform the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Israel, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in which they request to be invited to participate in the consideration of the item on the Council's agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the consideration of the item without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure.

There being no objection, it is so decided.

The President

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations.

At this meeting, the Council will hear briefings by His Excellency Mr. Thomas Mayr-Harting, Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities; His Excellency Mr. Jean-Maurice Ripert, Acting Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism; and His Excellency Mr. Jorge Urbina, Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004).

I should first like to give the floor to Mr. Thomas Mayr-Harting, who will make a joint statement on behalf of the Committees established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001) and 1540 (2004).

Mr. Mayr-Harting (Austria)

On behalf of the Chairmen of the subsidiary bodies of the Security Council established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001) and 1540 (2004), which deal with the issue of terrorism, I would like to give an update on the continued cooperation among the three Committees and their experts groups.

During the past six months, the sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) on Al-Qaida and Taliban, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) and their respective experts groups have increased their cooperation as requested by the Security Council in recent resolutions pertaining to the three Committees, notably in resolutions 1805 (2008), 1810 (2008) and 1822 (2008).

The three Committees attach great importance to the coordination of the activities of and cooperation among their expert groups, namely the Monitoring Team, the Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Expert Group of the 1540 Committee. The Committees welcome the continuing efforts of the expert groups to develop common strategies on areas of common concern, to organize joint workshops, to coordinate their participation in conferences and joint country visits and to exchange information on their activities. The Committees encourage their expert groups to further enhance their exchange of information and coordination with regard to capacity-building, assistance requests and delivery of technical assistance activities. In this context, I would also like to recall that the cooperation and coordination would be facilitated by the co-location of the experts in the framework of the Capital Master Plan.

The three expert groups continued to implement the common strategy on dealing with non- and late-reporting States through exchange of information and joint visits, when appropriate, and in assisting Member States in submitting their responses to the three Committees on their implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions. In particular, the three expert groups completed a series of three workshops on reporting for African States by holding a workshop in Kenya, from 11 to 13 November 2008, for North and East African States. This was organized in cooperation with the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna. Similar workshops are being planned for Member States in Asia, including the Pacific countries, the Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean region.

In addition to these workshops, the three expert groups are exploring the use of common video conferences. These would be conducted from New York, interacting with officials in the capitals of Member States -- for example, as took place with officials from the Central African Republic on 11 May -- in order to receive further information and updates on the status of implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions. The Committees believe that such workshops and interactive discussions with officials from capitals are very important tools to enhance the cooperation between the three Committees, and Member States, to help improve the understanding of the distinct though connected mandates of the three Committees, and to assist Member States in the implementation of the relevant resolutions.

In response to Security Council resolutions 1805 (2008), 1810 (2008) and 1822 (2008), the three expert groups recently presented another common strategy to engage with international, regional and subregional organizations, entities and agencies. The objectives of this new strategy are to increase coherence and coordination in the counter-terrorism efforts of the three Committees in their relations with such bodies and to facilitate the latter's efforts to cooperate with the expert groups of the three Committees. The three Committees welcome the presentation of a second common strategy as further evidence of the close working relationship between the three expert groups, and are currently considering their joint proposal.

The expert groups continue to coordinate their visits to Member States and participation at relevant conferences. CTED and the Monitoring Team also exchange their schedules of visits to explore whether these could be conducted jointly. When an expert group does not participate in a visit, they exchange information on the Member State that is to be visited. In addition, the three expert groups also share their reports on their visits whenever possible. The most recent visit to Uganda was the twelfth joint trip of CTED with the Monitoring Team to a Member State, and more joint visits are envisaged later this year. The three expert groups also jointly participated in a regional ministerial meeting on organized crime and terrorism, organized by UNODC in the Dominican Republic in February, and a subregional workshop organized by UNODC and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bucharest at the beginning of April.

The expert groups also cooperate on issues regarding the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions by States of the Pacific Islands Forum. They attend periodic meetings with Pacific Islands Forum missions to the United Nations in New York on the implementation of the resolutions. The three expert groups also continue to work together on risk management and border security issues.

The three expert groups also continue to contribute to and coordinate their work within the framework of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, which was established to ensure overall coordination and coherence in the counter-terrorism efforts of the United Nations system and to help implement the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

In addition to the aforementioned activities, there are regular meetings of the expert groups in New York. Moreover, when CTC organizes briefings in the framework of its official meetings, the Monitoring Team and the Expert Group of the 1540 Committee are also invited to participate.

Finally, the three Committees and their Chairmen have worked to enhance their cooperation. To this end, we recently organized an informal exchange of views among the Chairmen of the three Committees. I would like to note that the 1540 Committee adopted the topic of "Enhancing ongoing cooperation between the 1540 Committee and other international organizations, including the 1267 Committee and CTC" in its programme of work for 2009. For this purpose, it recently established a working group on cooperation in order to promote information sharing, coordination on country visits and workshops, technical assistance and other issues of relevance to all three Committees.

On the occasion of previous briefings, a comparative table was issued to highlight the main aspects of the respective mandates and areas of competence of the three Committees and of their expert groups. That table has served as a useful tool for Member States, and it has helped them to better understand the specificities and complementarities of our work. An updated version of the table is available today.

Terrorism and proliferation continue to be a daily reality and a threat to international peace and security, faced equally by States and individuals alike. Cooperation is therefore a crucial element in the efforts to counter the threat of terrorism, including that from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons for terrorist purposes. The three subsidiary bodies of the Security Council and their respective expert groups continue to be committed to cooperating and coordinating their work, within their respective mandates, in order to contribute to an effective and efficient approach within the overall United Nations framework and within international efforts. In this respect, the Committees look forward to receiving further guidance from the Council on areas of common interest in order to better coordinate counter-terrorism efforts. This concludes the joint report.

The President

I thank Mr. Thomas Mayr-Harting for his briefing.

I once again give the floor to Mr. Thomas Mayr-Harting, this time in his capacity as Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities.

Mr. Mayr-Harting (Austria)

I had the honour to take over the chairmanship of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee in January 2009. I would like to thank my predecessors, Ambassadors Johan Verbeke and Jan Grauls of Belgium, for their excellent work in steering the Committee in 2007 and 2008.

In today's briefing, I would like to give an overview of the Committee's activities since the last briefing in November 2008. A more detailed version of this statement will be distributed today and made accessible on the Committee's website in due course. I will therefore concentrate on the following points.

Almost 10 years after the adoption of resolution 1267 (1999), the threat posed by Al-Qaida and the Taliban continues worldwide, especially in South Asia. However, at the same time, over the years the threat has evolved considerably. The Committee remains committed to ensuring that the 1267 sanctions regime becomes an ever more relevant and effective tool for fighting terrorism.

All Member States have a role to play in helping to ensure, via timely listing and delisting proposals, that the consolidated list remains a dynamic instrument that accurately reflects the current threat. The Committee will do its part to make sure that the 1267 sanctions regime remains central to the United Nations counter-terrorism efforts.

On 9 December 2008, after intensive negotiations under Belgian chairmanship, the Committee adopted a thoroughly revised version of the guidelines of the Committee. The updated version is available in all six languages on the Committee's website.

By paragraph 25 of resolution 1822 (2008), the Council directed the Committee "to conduct a review of all names on the Consolidated List at the date of adoption of this resolution by 30 June 2010". The review process is one of the key priorities of the Committee. It currently pertains to 488 names that were included on the consolidated list prior to 30 June 2008.

Pursuant to the guidelines, each trimester the Committee circulates a subset or batch of names on the consolidated list to the designating State or States and the State or States of residence and/or nationality. As of today, the Committee has sent out two batches, initiating the review of 158 names -- 125 individuals and 33 entities -- on the consolidated list. A third batch of approximately 120 names will be circulated shortly to the respective States.

In this context, I would like to call upon all reviewing States to thoroughly review each name and to do their utmost to submit their replies to the Committee within the stated period. The Committee very much depends on the cooperation and assistance of Member States in order to be able to successfully complete the review process within the time frame set by the Council.

Once the replies from the reviewing States have been received, all information available is circulated to members of the Committee and the Monitoring Team for possible further input within a one-month period. At the end of this process, the respective name is placed on the Committee's agenda. On 4 May, the first five names were placed on the Committee's agenda, and so far the Committee has concluded its review of three names. In the course of the review, the Committee evaluates all available information, considers whether listing remains appropriate, and considers updating the consolidated list. In cases where a member of the Committee determines that a listing is no longer appropriate, it may submit a delisting request, and the Committee will decide whether to remove a name under review from the consolidated list.

In the spirit of transparency, it is my intention to regularly update Member States about the progress of the review process, including through periodic briefings, press releases and updates on the Committee's webpage. The Secretariat will also notify the States of residence and/or nationality and designating States, as foreseen in the guidelines.

The review of the 488 names on the consolidated list is, as I have already said, one of the key priorities of the Committee, and it is my personal commitment to ensure that this exercise will be conducted seriously and thoroughly. There are several names of persons on the list who are reported to be dead or cases where a continued listing may no longer seem to be appropriate. Other entries have very few identifiers and do not contain sufficient information to allow for the positive identification of the party concerned, as requested for new designations by Security Council resolution 1822 (2008). For these entries, the application of the measures set out in resolution 1822 (2008) is very difficult, but at the same time they can affect unintended and innocent individuals. For instance, for 56 individuals there is no full name and no date of birth; for 14 individuals there is only one name available. For these reasons, INTERPOL has been able so far to post only 317 notices for individuals and 24 notices for entities, as it does not have the necessary information for the other entries.

Additional identifiers are therefore necessary in order to create an effective sanctions regime. The review is an ideal opportunity to check these entries, add additional identifiers or remove names from the list for which listing is no longer considered appropriate. I therefore count on the cooperation of Member States in order to be able to conduct a meaningful review and improve the quality of the consolidated list.

In paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008), the Security Council directed the Committee, with the assistance of the Monitoring Team and in coordination with the relevant designating States, to make accessible on the Committee's website a narrative summary of reasons for listing for each entry on the consolidated list. The Committee, supported by the Monitoring Team, is currently working to produce these summaries. Since the beginning of this year, the Committee has published a total of 63 narrative summaries. The Monitoring Team has prepared the first draft of another 115 narrative summaries of reasons for listing, which are currently being reviewed by the designating States. The summaries are published in all six official United Nations languages.

As of today, the consolidated list comprises 508 names: 397 persons -- 255 associated with Al-Qaida and 142 associated with the Taliban -- and 111 entities. Since the last briefing on 12 November 2008, the Committee has added to the list the names of seven individuals associated with Al-Qaida. During the same period, one delisting request was approved, while four delisting requests could not be acceded to.

In cases of new listings, as foreseen in the guidelines, the Committee now includes in communications to the membership, and in its press release on new listings, the publicly releasable portions of the respective statement of case. The Committee trusts that making publicly available a statement of case following a new listing will further improve the transparency and effective implementation of sanctions.

Since the last briefing, the Committee has received 11 notifications for exemptions to the assets freeze for basic expenses under paragraph 1(a) and one request for an exemption for extraordinary expenses under paragraph 1(b). One notification under paragraph 1(a) is still under the Committee's consideration. The Committee has also received the first request for an exemption to the travel ban set out in paragraph 1(b) of resolution 1822 (2008). The request was granted for the days of travel specified.

Finally, the Committee has considered the issue of deceased persons and discussed a paper submitted by the Monitoring Team on listed individuals who are reported or believed to be dead. Acknowledging the importance of addressing this issue, the Committee decided to undertake a review of the list of deceased persons in the framework of the currently ongoing review.

Cooperation and interaction with Member States are essential elements of the work of the Committee. Visits by the Monitoring Team to countries are an important tool for developing a dialogue with Member States and for gathering information on the implementation of the sanctions regime. Since the last briefing, the Monitoring Team has travelled to seven Member States -- Syria, Lebanon, Togo, Malaysia, Algeria, France and the United States -- including two visits under the umbrella of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.

In addition, on 30 April 2009 in Vienna the Team held its seventh regional meeting for the heads and deputy heads of intelligence and security services from selected countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, and its third meeting with regional security and intelligence services on 22 and 23 April in Nairobi to discuss Al-Qaida influences in Somalia. On 9 February, the Committee itself met with a high-level delegation from Algeria, which gave a comprehensive overview of Algeria's efforts to counter terrorism related to Al-Qaida. On 11 December 2008, my predecessor held an open briefing to interested Member States in which he provided an update of the Committee's work in relation to the implementation of resolution 1822 (2008). My intention is to hold another open briefing next month.

At the end of February, the Monitoring Team submitted its ninth report (S/2009/245) to the Committee, as requested under resolution 1822 (2008). The Committee recently started its consideration of the report and its recommendations. The report has been transmitted to the Security Council, published as a United Nations document and put on the Committee's website. The Committee will inform the Security Council of its position on the Team's recommendations after careful consideration. The Monitoring Team will submit its tenth report to the Committee at the end of July 2009. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Monitoring Team and the secretariat of the 1267 Committee for their invaluable contribution to the work of the Committee.

Let me conclude with a general comment. The 1267 sanctions regime currently faces serious challenges. There are a growing number of cases before national and regional courts, filed by listed individuals and entities taking legal action against sanctions measures. The review is therefore an important step towards both improving due process and strengthening the regime. Either by removing names from the list where listing is no longer appropriate or by adding new identifiers and information regarding names remaining on the list, the review will help to improve due process and the quality of the consolidated list and to implement the sanctions regime more effectively. Further steps towards ensuring and strengthening fair and clear procedures, as stated in resolution 1822 (2008), may be sought in the next resolution, which is due at the end of 2009.

However, the success of the review process and the Committee's work in general depends not only on the work of the members of the Committee, but most importantly on the cooperation of all Member States involved, in particular designating States and States of residence and/or nationality. In order to complete the review process by the deadline in June 2010, it is essential that all States involved do their utmost to provide all available information within the time frame set by the Committee. The continued cooperation and engagement of all Member States is crucial to achieve our common and overall objective to counter and prevent terrorism.

The President

I thank Mr. Mayr-Harting for his briefing.

I now give the floor to Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, speaking on behalf of the Acting Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism.

Mr. Lacroix (France)

As you stated, Mr. President, I have the honour of making a statement on behalf of the Permanent Representative of France, who is not in New York today and who is the Acting Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001), known as the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC). It is my honour to brief the Security Council on the work of the Committee since the last briefing of 12 November 2008.

In the past six months, the Committee has pursued its activities according to its programmes of work, which have been issued as official documents of the Security Council. The Committee has continued to analyse the Preliminary Implementation Assessments of resolution 1373 (2001), documents that have been presented to all United Nations Member States by Ambassador Jurica and Mr. Mike Smith, Executive Director of the CTC, during information meetings. Since last November, it has approved 21 of them, which brings the current total to 191 files. It should formally approve the last two in the coming months.

One of the major undertakings of the Committee in this reporting period is the stocktaking exercise. After receiving their preliminary assessments in 2007 and 2008, Member States were usually given 12 months to send their comments and provide updates. The first deadlines have expired, and the Committee has endorsed a proposal on how to conduct the stocktaking of each Member State's implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). That process is to be carried out in stages, involving the Committee and its subcommittees. The Committee can thus enhance its regular dialogue with the Member States and identify the areas where implementation of resolution 1373 (2001) is still inadequate.

In practice, the Committee is called on to provide follow-up to the recommendations drawn up for each Member State by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. On the basis of those recommendations, among other activities, the Committee requests additional information on the gaps identified and invites permanent representatives to the meetings of the relevant subcommittees, at which they are reminded of their obligation to implement resolution 1373 (2001). The relevant subcommittee asks the Member States in question why they have not responded to the Committee's communications and encourages the permanent representatives of those States to explore additional ways to help the Executive Directorate to obtain further information and updates. The Committee has already finalized 16 files in the context of that activity.

The Committee has continued to organize visits to Member States with their consent. That is a fundamental element of its activities to effectively monitor and promote implementation of resolution 1373 (2001). Besides such comprehensive visits, which facilitate analysis of all aspects of implementing the resolution, the revised organizational plan of the Executive Directorate envisages a more flexible approach by planning shorter visits focused on one or two particular aspects of the counter-terrorism regime in the Member State concerned. In addition, the plan forms the basis for regional visits and for missions given the task of examining best practices and of resolving vulnerabilities.

Thanks to those innovations, the rate of visits has significantly increased, which has enabled the Committee to engage in a more in-depth examination of the problems in a greater number of countries in all regions. Over the past six months, the Committee has successfully concluded on-site visits to the following countries: Kenya, Uganda, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Bangladesh.

The Committee was seized of the results of the activities of the five cross-cutting technical working groups established by the organizational plan of the Executive Directorate, which covers the major areas of implementation of resolutions 1373 (2001) and 1624 (2005). The aim is to revise and harmonize the criteria for technical judgements of the elements of resolution 1373 (2001) and to draw up a technical guide that will facilitate the task of the Executive Directorate. The Directorate has submitted the guide to the Committee, which is currently considering it.

The Committee and the Executive Directorate have done their utmost to strengthen dialogue with Member States, donors and beneficiaries so as to facilitate technical assistance. In that context, the Committee continues to look for and match current and potential donors and beneficiary countries in order to strengthen their mutual dialogue and to further the implementation of resolution 1373 (2001).

The Committee has approved a report on the implementation of the plan of action adopted at its fifth special meeting, held two years ago in Nairobi, Kenya. The Executive Directorate organized that review in consultation with the 77 international, regional and subregional organizations invited to participate in the meeting. It has been noted that more than 100 conferences, workshops and training sessions had taken place since November 2007 to promote the implementation of the plan of action. The Committee also posts on its website the technical assistance requests in a table and the directory of its assistance programmes.

In its dialogue with Member States, the Committee has continued to remind them that they must ensure that all measures taken to combat terrorism comply with their obligations under international law, in particular human rights law, refugee law and humanitarian law. The expert on human rights in the Executive Directorate regularly submits information for inclusion in the preliminary assessments, prepares the Directorate's country visits -- in two of which he himself has taken part -- and promotes a consistent approach to human rights issues in the Directorate's activities.

Regarding resolution 1624 (2005), the Committee has continued to include in its dialogue with Member States their efforts to implement that resolution. In total, 99 States have submitted reports to the Committee on their implementation of the resolution. The Committee continues to encourage the States that have not yet presented a report to do so. Recently, it endorsed a discussion paper, prepared by the Executive Directorate, on ways to advance the dialogue.

The Committee also continues to encourage the Member States to become party to and to implement the 16 international counter-terrorism instruments. The Committee plays its part in the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Under its guidance, the Executive Directorate has continued to participate actively in all relevant activities of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force. It has participated in the work of the three working groups of the Task Force, dealing respectively with addressing the financing of terrorism, protecting human rights while countering terrorism, and integrating assistance for countering terrorism. The Committee welcomes the intention of the Secretariat to co-locate the Task Force secretariat with CTED, which will be conducive to their closer collaboration within the framework of their respective mandates.

The Committee, mostly through its experts and in line with resolution 1805 (2008), cooperates and coordinates its activities with two other subsidiary bodies of the Security Council that deal with counter-terrorism, namely, the Committees established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1540 (2004). More information on this cooperation has been presented earlier today in the common message of the three Committees.

Moreover, as part of its cooperation and exchange of information with counter-terrorism partners during its meetings in New York, the Committee heard several briefings by representatives of relevant organizations and United Nations bodies.

The Committee will need to accomplish a number of major tasks in the next six months. First, resolution 1805 (2008) requests an interim review of CTED by 30 June 2009. I am pleased to be in a position to report that the Committee has started informal consultations on this issue and will submit a report to the Council before the stipulated deadline. Moreover, in the coming period, the Committee will focus on concluding the major part of the stocktaking exercise. The Committee also expects to receive a new revision of the Global Implementation Survey of resolution 1373 (2001) by Member States and to further strengthen contacts within relevant countries in order to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance.

As terrorism remains one of the major threats to international peace and security, the Committee represents a crucial instrument of the international community to address that global scourge. The Committee benefits from the constructive engagement of its members, which assists it considerably in its work. Furthermore, support from and cooperation with Member States remains invaluable, especially in carrying out the stocktaking exercise. I should therefore like to thank all Member States for their important contributions, which enable the Committee to fulfil its mandate.

Finally, I would also like to extend the Committee's gratitude to Mr. Mike Smith, Executive Director of CTED, and his team for their valuable assistance. I also appreciate the continuous support provided by the Secretariat.

Let me conclude with a few words in my national capacity, while aligning myself fully with the statement to be delivered later by the representative of the Czech Republic on behalf of the European Union. France is very committed to the full implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), the crucial importance of which is underscored by the very alarming events that have just taken place in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The obligations imposed by this resolution make good sense. Compliance has significant benefits to public health, through control of biological facilities, taxes through border control and, of course, security. France, which has just taken the chair of the 1540 working group on assistance, will spare no effort to ensure that States receive all necessary assistance for the full implementation of the resolution.

The Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee, as our Austrian colleague said earlier, has started the important work of reviewing the entire consolidated list of individuals, groups and entities subject to sanctions, as requested by the Security Council in resolution 1822 (2008). France considers the general review and the yearly reviews that will take place subsequently to be among the most important safeguards for individual freedoms surrounding the sanctions regime. My country participates actively in this work and invites all other Member States concerned to play their full role in this crucial exercise.

The President

I thank Mr. Lacroix for his briefing.

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Jorge Urbina, Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004).

Mr. Urbina (Costa Rica)

As Chairman of the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004), I am pleased to brief the Security Council on the main activities of the Committee during the six months since the last joint briefing held on 12 November 2008. Among the main aspects, I would like to refer to the adoption of the Committee's annual programme of work and on outreach activities, assistance and cooperation with relevant organizations.

In accordance with paragraph 9 of resolution 1810 (2008), the Committee completed preparation of its programme of work covering the period from 1 February 2009 to 31 January 2010. The programme, which was circulated as a Security Council document, calls for intensification of ongoing activities and for developing new activities. The programme seeks first to increase the Committee's knowledge of the status of implementation by encouraging non-reporting States to submit a first report and other States to provide additional information reflecting progress towards a full implementation of resolution 1540 (2004); secondly, to pursue the Committee's dialogue with States on such progress and to organize and participate in outreach events at the national, regional and subregional levels; thirdly, as Ambassador Mayr-Harting mentioned, to enhance the Committee's cooperation with other international bodies, including the Security Council's Committees established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1373 (2001); and, fourthly, to engage actively with States and relevant international, regional and subregional organizations for the purpose of sharing experiences and lessons learned.

Moreover, the programme seeks to strengthen the Committee's role of facilitating technical assistance in the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) by developing further its clearing-house function in matching offers and requests for assistance and by encouraging and taking advantage of voluntary financial contributions to assist States in addressing their needs.

A major focus of the Committee's work in 2009 will be to organize a comprehensive review of the status of implementation of resolution 1540 (2004). The review will assess the evolution of risks and threats in the areas covered by the resolution, address specific critical issues that have not yet been addressed, and identify new approaches for the implementation of the resolution. The modalities of the review, to be completed no later than 31 January 2010, were circulated in document S/2009/170 of 1 April 2009.

In order to implement its 2009 programme more efficiently, the Committee has established four working groups open to all its members. They focus on the following topics: first, national implementation and monitoring, including the comprehensive review; secondly, assistance; thirdly, transparency and outreach; and fourthly, cooperation with international organizations and subsidiary bodies, including the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the 1267 Committee.

Mr. Urbina (Costa Rica)

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