NEW YORK — Saudi Arabia's generous contributions toward global efforts to combat terrorism were acknowledged and lauded at the United Nations. Expressing his sincere thanks and gratitude to Saudi Arabia in his opening remarks at the week-long UN virtual counter-terrorism week, Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, under-secretary-general of the UN for Combating Terrorism and executive director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Center, said the Kingdom is the largest donor to the UN body. He said that without the generous support by Saudi Arabia and the 31 other countries that contribute to the UNODC Trust Fund, the center would not be able to operate. Voronkov stressed that despite the drop in the number of terrorist attacks and deaths that saw a spike during the rise of Daesh (the so-called IS), terrorism still constitutes a major threat to international peace and security, and some groups expand their scope in new areas. Voronkov stated that the Security Council has passed a number of resolutions over the past three years under Chapter VII that define a comprehensive set of measures that member states can use to prevent and combat terrorism, noting that the United Nations has implemented more than 300 capacity-building projects in the fight against terrorism around the world, including 50 projects sponsored by the Counter-Terrorism Center, benefiting 72 countries.
