Albanian Inter-Religious Institute scholar’s contribution to UN roundtable praised
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- Dr. Arben Ramkaj made a presentation at a virtual roundtable discussion organized by the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee.
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Dr. Arben Ramkaj
TIRANA, July 19 - UN officials specializing in countering violent extremism have praised a recent contribution to a UN roundtable on the topic by Albanian scholar Arben Ramkaj, who heads the country’s Inter-Religious Institute.
Dr. Ramkaj had made a presentation at a roundtable discussion organized by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).
A letter by the committee’s executive directorate thanked the Albanian scholar for the input noted that it looked “forward to continued cooperation between CTED, [Dr. Ramkaj], and the Inter-Religious Institute of Albania, within the framework of our common efforts to understand and improve civil society engagement in the development and implementation of counter-terrorism strategies.” 
The virtual round table on “Civil society engagement in the development and implementation of national comprehensive and integrated counterterrorism strategies in South-East Europe” was held in late June and discussed the involvement of civil society in the development and implementation of comprehensive and integrated national counter-terrorism strategies in Southeast Europe.
“In Albania, there is a good level of cooperation and exchange of information and best practices between the civil society sector and the security sector especially when it comes to the fight against violent extremism, a fight that is decisive for the success of counter-terrorism strategies. The National Strategy on CVE, which is up for renewal this year, has explicitly recognized the role and contribution of different civil society actors in combating radicalization, violent extremism and hate speech,” Dr. Ramkaj noted in his remarks at the roundtable.
The discussions of those present at this roundtable focused mostly on the extent civil society actors are aware of national counter-terrorism strategies in their respective countries; as well as to what extent civil society actors are involved in the development and implementation of national counter-terrorism strategies.
The roundtable was intended to inform the discussions at the Open Briefing of the Counter-Terrorism Committee on the implementation of Council resolutions by the member states of Southeast Europe.
