European Union to open anti-terror centre in Bangladesh
By IANSWednesday, October 20, 2010
DHAKA - The European Union (EU) will set up a counter-terrorism centre in Bangladesh in order to provide special training to police and other law enforcement officials across South Asia on how to combat terrorism.
Ambassador of EU Delegation to Bangladesh, Stefan Frowein, has announced that countries like India and Pakistan have agreed with the plan to set up the centre in Bangladesh, which will be the second in the region after the one in Indonesia.
The centre, which is expected to start functioning early next year, will have counter-terrorism experts from European countries, the US and Canada who will train investigators, police and intelligence officials in the region.
Officials from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar and other countries will come to Dhaka to undergo the training.
“We have chosen Bangladesh to host the regional centre considering its strong commitment to eliminate all sorts of terrorism, as well as its support to EU causes in the international fora, including the UN,” Frowein said.
He said 1.5 million euros have been made available for the centre.
The envoy also said that Bangladesh would soon become a member of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) which was established in 1996 with an aim to deepen relations between Asia and Europe at all levels.
ASEM is an interregional forum comprised of the European Commission, all the 27 members of the European Union, 14 members of the ASEAN and three regional groupings.
