Philippines, UAE sign agreement to combat cybercrime, drug trafficking
MANILA: The Philippines has signed a new security agreement with the UAE to tackle transnational and organized crime, officials said on Tuesday.
Signed by Philippine Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla and UAE Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the new deal focuses on cybercrime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
'Transnational crimes with global networks powered by new technologies and the ease of cross-border movement of persons and criminal syndicates need more international cooperation and partnerships,' Alfonso Ver, Philippine ambassador to the UAE, told Arab News on Tuesday.
'This is one concrete step to address the growing menace above … We have gone into new and heretofore unexplored areas of bilateral cooperation, moving beyond the issues of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), migration and oil.'
The Philippines and the UAE celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations last year.
The two countries have been working to expand security ties over the past few years, with discussions ongoing for a wide-ranging bilateral defense pact.
In 2021, the Philippines posted a defense attache in the UAE, making it the only country in the Middle East where Manila has such representation.
The two countries also signed several treaties on extradition, mutual legal assistance and transfer of prisoners in February.
Ver said the new agreement was a 'milestone' that provides a 'strategic framework' that will help guide Philippine-UAE 'future engagements in a more structured, sustainable, and effective' manner.
It is also expected to promote the exchange of best practices and expertise.
'We discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and develop cooperation in the security and police fields,' Sheikh Saif said in a post on X, referring to his meeting with Remulla.
'This underscores our shared commitment to supporting effective international institutional cooperation to enhance the security and stability of societies.'
Cybercrime and trafficking have been growing concerns for countries like the Philippines.
More than 200 Filipinos were among several thousand people freed in late February and March from online scam centers run by syndicates operating along Myanmar's border with Thailand, where many of them are believed to have been recruited and trafficked by criminal gangs.
Lured by well-paid job offers in Thailand, they were released in a weeks-long, highly publicized crackdown by Thai, Myanmar and Chinese forces.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
How Gulf ties became key focus of India's foreign policy over past decade
Ties with Gulf countries have become a key focus of India's foreign policy over the past 10 years, the latest report by the Council for Strategic and Defence Research shows, highlighting New Delhi's special focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Headquartered in the Indian capital, the CSDR is a think tank specializing in research on geopolitics, foreign policy, and military strategy. Its report published last month, 'From Trees to Forests: The Evolution of India-Middle East Ties post 2014,' highlights India's investment in bilateral relations with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which are independent of larger global frameworks. The effort to strengthen the connection started before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, but it has gained momentum with his frequent visits to the six-member bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. 'In the last 10 years, India has substantiated this effort by filling crucial gaps in political, economic, and military contact with key states, with a special focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE,' Bashir Ali Abbas, senior research associate at CSDR and the report's author, told Arab News. 'In the last 10 years, the Middle East has also emerged as a strategic space for India, with new defense relationships, and economic visions which also fit with the Gulf's own focus on economic diversification.' While India's relations with the Gulf region span centuries, it currently has the largest concentration of the Indian diaspora — about 9.7 million people. 'And India's top oil suppliers at any point in time inevitably are at least three Gulf states. This alone necessitates that India pay close attention to the region,' Abbas said. 'In India, policy makers and official decision-making institutions have updated their understanding of the region, but more importantly its changing nature. This evolved understanding has enabled the rise of new strategic partnerships, and PM Narendra Modi is the only Indian PM to have officially visited all six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.' By 2018, the GCC became India's largest regional trading bloc, with an annual trade value of $104 billion in FY2017-2018. The volume that year surpassed India-ASEAN trade of $81 billion, and India-EU trade — $102 billion. Currently, it is even higher, with the Indian government estimating it at $162 billion in FY2023-24. In 2019, India became only the fourth state to establish a Strategic Partnership Council with Saudi Arabia, following Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to New Delhi. During the Kingdom's presidency of the Group of 20 largest economies in 2020, the two countries started to forge partnerships and bilateral programs that saw further development as India took the G20 presidency in 2023. Over the past four years, the countries have since also engaged in a series of bilateral navy, air force and army exercises. 'Today, India sees Saudi Arabia as a strategic partner, with political and economic ties robust enough to also substantial cooperation in defense and security,' Abbas said. 'Given both India's own Viksit Bharat 2047 development vision and (the crown prince's) Vision 2030, India and Saudi Arabia are now driven by shared economic and strategic goals.' With the UAE, India signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2022, following which their bilateral trade grew to $85 billion in just over a year. The number of multi-sectoral memoranda of understanding between Indian and Emirati public and private entities has since reached over 80, according to the CSDR report. 'India also sought to reframe other bilateral relationships where fresh opportunities had arisen,' it said, adding that New Delhi was 'closing the Gulf circle,' with strategic partnerships signed with Kuwait during Modi's visit in 2024, and with Qatar during Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani's state trip to New Delhi in early 2025. The relations 'will certainly see a positive trajectory in the near and distant future — especially if it is backed up by greater avenues of intellectual contact,' Abbas said. 'Greater intellectual contact and an evolved popular understanding will enhance the strategic relationships between India and its Arab partners, through the injection of more ideas, perspectives, and actors who can work as champions for closer ties.'
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Pakistani, Muslim leaders share Eid greetings, offer special prayers for Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday exchanged Eid Al-Adha greetings with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and other Muslim nations and offered special prayers for the people of Gaza. Eid Al-Adha is one of the two most important festivals of the Islamic calendar, marked by Muslims in Pakistan and around the world by slaughtering animals such as sheep and goats, and distributing their meat among family, friends and the poor. Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Dar held a telephonic conversation with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and exchanged warm Eid greetings, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported. They prayed for peace, prosperity and well-being of Muslims across the world. Separately, PM Sharif held a telephonic conversation with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tarik and conveyed his warm greetings to him and the brotherly people of Oman on the Eid Al-Adha. 'While exchanging Eid wishes, the two leaders prayed for unity and harmony among the Muslim Ummah. They also offered special prayers for the people of Gaza,' Sharif's office said. The development came as at least four Palestinians were killed and others were wounded by Israeli fire around a kilometer from an aid distribution point in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said on Sunday. Israel's military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian Health Ministry. The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of its population. The territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians are almost completely reliant on international aid because nearly all of Gaza's food production capabilities have been destroyed. The Pakistani leaders also held similar calls and exchange of Eid greetings with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Jordan's King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Thai hostage recovered from southern Gaza in military operation
JERUSALEM — The body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who was abducted alive during the October 7 attacks was recovered from southern Gaza in a military operation on Friday, according to a statement from the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security service. The announcement comes just days after Israel recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from Gaza. Pinta, 35, was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel where he had been working in agriculture, according to an Israeli military official, who said it is estimated that he was killed during the first months of captivity. Pinta was a husband and father working in Israel to support his family in Thailand, the official said. 'We will not rest until all the hostages, living and deceased, are returned home,' Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Pinta was abducted by the Mujahideen, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, a militant group that took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. The IDF said it is the same organization that kidnapped the Bibas family and killed Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, the mother and two young sons who became the most prominent among Hamas' captives. Earlier this week, Israel announced that the bodies of Judy Winston-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, were recovered from southern Gaza. The two were also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The couple had four children and seven retrieval of Pinta's body comes with an intense Israeli operation underway in Gaza, with the Civil Defense reporting at least 38 people were killed in Israeli attacks on IDF said four soldiers were killed and five wounded early Friday morning when an explosive was detonated in a building in Khan Younis in which they were operating, causing part of the structure to collapse.A total of 55 hostages remain in Gaza, including one taken in 2014. Twenty are believed to be still the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, many were migrant workers from poor rural parts of Asia, who had gone to work in Israel's agricultural, construction and health care sectors to send money back home. — CNN
