PAM participated in the 1st Counter-Terrorism Coordination Meeting among Parliamentary Assemblies, hosted by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in Doha, Qatar. The meeting was opened by H.E. Hassan bin Abdullah Al-Ghanim, Speaker of the Shura Council of the State of Qatar, and gathered representatives of Parliamentary Assemblies from around the world to discuss the options for establishing a coordination platform of parliamentary activities on counterterrorism. 

PAM Secretary General, represented the Assembly on this occasion. He briefed the participants on the steps taken by PAM to counter-terrorism and prevent violent extremism in the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf Regions over the last decade and a half. He highlighted that PAM became the first international organization to adopt by consensus a definition of terrorism in 2008, and since 2014, the Assembly has been at the forefront of addressing the issue of foreign terrorist fighters, both during the rise of ISIL and after its military defeat, which left tens of thousands of surviving terrorists and their families in battlefield detention in Syria and Iraq. 

In the discussion on options for coordination among inter-parliamentary organizations on counterterrorism, PAM Secretary General proposed to establish a light mechanism, which would see a rotation basis for each of the Parliamentary Assemblies. The UNOCT would act as an administrative secretariat to support this rotating chairmanship to facilitate its work, and so doing ensure continuity and institutional memory. The group would meet twice a year, once in Doha and once in the country hosting the rotating chairmanship. One meeting would be technical in nature to synchronize agendas and initiatives, the second being political with participation of MPs and relevant committees. All costs related to these events and special activities of the group will be covered by the UNOCT. The proposal was met with support from participating Parliamentary Assemblies, and it was agreed to consolidate the inputs of the coordination meeting ahead of a follow-up conference in Doha in June, which would set the mechanism into action. //