The Interpol Middle East and North Africa (MENA) National Central Bureaus Chiefs concluded their fifth regional meeting, held for two days in Abu Dhabi and hosted 16 MENA countries. Participants recommended increasing the number of training programs for police and customs officers aimed at combating trafficking in illicit goods; as well as joining efforts between Interpol and law enforcement bodies in MENA countries to combat this type of crime. Moreover, the participants called upon the national central bureaus (NCB) to use I-link system forms for data exchange between the international police community, to enhance data quality and transfer police-related information in the four official languages of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
Furthermore, participants at the meeting urged NCBs to take part in operational initiatives, organized by the INTERPOL to track fugitive offenders, and pursue the efforts to link ports to Interpol databases of stolen and lost travel documents.
Major Mubarak Saeed Al Khayili, Head of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in Abu Dhabi announced the recommendations.
The second day deliberations of the two-day meeting kicked off with a number of working papers on Interpol tools and capacity-building. Catherine Plano, Assistant Director of the Sub-Department for Police Data Management submitted a working paper on the latest developments in the I-link system, while Emmanuel Leclaire Assistant Director of the Command and Coordination Center at the Interpol General Secretariat, presented a working paper on the role of the Interpol’s Command and Cooperation Center and its activities. Furthermore, Raouf Atallah, from the NCBs and Police Staff Training Sub-Department, of the Capacity-building and Training Directorate at the Interpol’s General Secretariat, reviewed the Interpol’s training initiatives, as well as capacity-building Directorate. The participants also discussed several issues raised by heads of the National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in the MENA region; in relation to the daily work in the NCBs.
At the end of the meeting, the participant countries exchanged commemorative gifts and shields.