by Marwa Yahya

CAIRO, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Founding the Arab Intelligence Forum can promote inter-Arab cooperation in the areas of intelligence and national security, said military and political experts.

"Exchanging intelligence among the Arab countries is the key to facing terrorism and regional threats," said Ikram Badr, professor of political studies with Cairo University.

It is a positive step and will become a mechanism for boosting cooperation and exchange of information as the region has been encountering challenges against its security and stability, Badr told Xinhua.

"It's imperative now to expand the intelligence cooperation because some of the Arab countries face internal conflicts that are exploited by regional and international players in addition to terrorism, money laundry, and human trafficking," Badr added.

Egyptian General Intelligence Service called in February 2020 for the establishment of the forum in a meeting with chairs of some Arab states' intelligence bodies and Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated the Arab Intelligence Forum 2021 in Cairo on Feb. 1.

The forum has announced that it will locate its headquarters in Cairo at this year's edition with the presence of the Egyptian president and the heads of intelligence services from a number of Arab countries.

At the opening session of the forum, Sisi stressed the importance of empowering the forum as "a strong and supportive mechanism for cooperation in the intelligence field among the Arab countries."

In terms of fighting terrorist organizations that seek to spread in some Arab countries with a foreign fund, the president said the forum should work on a counterterrorism system that depends on exchanging expertise.

Meanwhile, Samir Farag, former manager of the defense ministry's moral department said the inauguration of the forum is an important step that should have happened a long time ago.

"We have been waiting for that step for many years, but differences among some Arab countries have delayed the establishment of the forum," Farag said.

He reiterated that terrorism has impacted all the Arab countries, so the Arab world requires one integrated system that could provide information on hotbeds, names, tactics, and funds of terrorists.

The Arab intelligence bodies will benefit a lot via the forum from each other's experience in dealing with terrorism, and in stopping the supply of those organizations with funds and arms, the military expert added.

According to Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Cairo-based Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies, the forum will hold routine meetings for discussing all the issues related to Arab national security.

"The forum aims at reforming Arab world security system that was controlled to a big extent by international and regional powers," Ghobashy said.

He considered the forum as an Arab national security organization that will discuss regional conflicts and works on combating terrorism.

He also stressed the significance of the forum as it serves as a platform to promote joint action in order to safeguard Arab national security. Enditem

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