Statement of Latvia at the Open Briefing of the Counter-Terrorism Committee "CTED at twenty: advancing global counter terrorism efforts for the future"
New York, 27 October 2025
Dear Chairman, Excellencies and distinguished delegates,
Today we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. On this occasion, I would like to thank ASG Natalia Gherman and her team for their work and significant contribution to the global CT efforts.
Over the past 20 years, CTED has not only assisted the work of the CTC committee but also facilitated implementation of the Council resolutions addressing CT issues and emerging threats, through visits to more than 120 countries.
In 2022, CTED experts visited Latvia, and where we witnessed first-hand the expertise and knowledge that these experts bring to each visit conducting their assessments and tailoring recommendations to bridge each member state’s national efforts to match standards set out by the Council resolutions.
Latvia is committed to the global fight against terrorism and terrorism financing. And this year, we were the first country in the world assessed under the new, revised Financial Action Task Force methodology. Latvia has demonstrated, how a small country with relatively low risk exposure, can demonstrate good results in building an effective system to counter terrorism financing through commitment to principles, strong national cooperation and learning from the best practices of others. CTED’s visit was both an opportunity to take a look at the bigger picture and provided snapshots of areas of needed improvement.
In this context, Latvia fully supports the extension of the CTED mandate. With new threats emerging CTED stands guard not only for conventional CT efforts but also takes into account cross-cutting issues that we support – respect for the rule of law and human rights in countering terrorism, involving civil society in prevention work and factoring in Women, Peace, Security and gender aspect in new CT strategies.
Thank you.