King, Bulgarian president chair new round of Aqaba Process meetings

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah II and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev co-chaired a new round of Aqaba Process meetings in Sofia, Bulgaria on Friday.

Jointly organised with Bulgaria, the Aqaba Process Balkans III forum is the third round of international meetings centred around the Balkans, addressing concerns and developments in the region, security challenges, ways to enhance cooperation to combat terrorism, violent extremism, and radicalisation, especially online, as well as issues related to illegal migration, according to a Royal Court statement. 

The forum—attended by HRH Prince Ghazi, His Majesty’s chief adviser for religious and cultural affairs and personal envoy—also covered opportunities for closer coordination, partnership and exchange of expertise between countries and international organisations in the field of countering terrorism and extremism, the statement.

Participating in this round of the Aqaba Process meetings were heads of state and government, officials and representatives of security and military agencies from Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Norway, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, as well as representatives of the European Union, INTERPOL, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

On the sidelines of the Aqaba Process round, His Majesty held separate meetings with Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani Sadriu, North Macedonia President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, Montenegro President Jakov Milatović, Serbia President Aleksandar Vučić, and Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin.

Previous rounds of the Aqaba Process meetings have been held in Jordan and internationally, hosted by Albania, Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Rwanda, Singapore, Spain, the United Nations General Assembly, and the United States, in partnership with Jordan.

Previous forums have focused on East Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, West Africa and the Sahel.

The Aqaba Process meetings, initiated by His Majesty in 2015, aim to enhance coordination, security and military cooperation, and exchange of expertise and information between various regional and international parties in the fight against terrorism and extremism.