The United States Embassy, the Bangladesh Police Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTCU) and the United Nations jointly opened the two-day national conference on ‘Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism’ at the International Convention City, Bashundhara in the city.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, CTTCU Chief Monirul Islam, UN Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo, and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller inaugurated the conference.

Speaker Dr Shirin said all need to work together to counter violent extremism as extremism emerged as a threat to all globally. 

She said terror financing must be stopped first to defeat violent extremism and people from all walks of life need to be engaged strengthening anti-terrorism activities.

“Violent extremism is a global problem,” the Speaker said adding that one country alone cannot prevent it.

The conference, featuring representatives from the Bangladesh government, civil society, and academia, is supported by the US Embassy through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UN Bangladesh, the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre of the UN Office of Counter Terrorism, and the UN Development Programme.  

During the conference, participants will showcase their ideas and efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism and prepare a draft, ‘National CVE Strategy’, to be submitted to the government of Bangladesh.