Amit Shah to address concluding session of Interpol general assembly today

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Friday address the concluding session of the 90th Interpol General Assembly here, in which 164 countries are participating to discuss ways to combat transnational crimes.

Shah will arrive at the newly-built swanky Pragati Maidan to address the concluding session of the assembly at 12.50 pm, the home ministry said on Twitter.

During the four-day conference that began on October 18, the participating member countries of Interpol underlined that cyber crimes and online sexual abuse of children are emerging as major threats globally, officials said.

During the general assembly, the global police organisation also announced its presence in the virtual world through Interpol Metaverse, where registered users can tour a "virtual facsimile" of the Interpol General Secretariat headquarters in France's Lyon from anywhere in the world.

They can interact with other officers via their avatars and even take immersive training courses in forensic investigation and other policing capabilities.

The assembly also resolved to pay special attention to transnational financial crimes using instruments of the global police cooperation organisation, such as the Interpol Financial Crime Analysis File and the Interpol Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR)Global Focal Point Network (GFPN) on Asset Recovery.

The assembly discussed the issue of providing national financial intelligence units (FIUs) a direct access to Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, in compliance with the legislations of the respective countries.

This would allow the FIUs to combine information from police and other sources, thereby enhancing the member countries' capacity to combat financial crimes and corruption, the statement said.

The 90th General Assembly is being organised in India to coincide with the 75th anniversary year of the country's independence, after a proposal in this regard was made to Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock by Shah during the former's visit here in 2019.

The proposal was put to vote last year and a majority of countries voted in favour of India. This is the second occasion that India is hosting the event, with the last general assembly held here in 1997.

Inaugurating the assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged Interpol on Tuesday to speed up red corner notices against fugitive offenders to help eliminate safe havens for terrorists, criminals and those accused of corruption.

Modi had also warned about the harmful globalised threats that the world faces -- terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, poaching and organised crime.

"The pace of change of these dangers is faster than earlier. When threats are global, the response cannot be just local. It is high time that the world comes together to defeat these threats," the prime minister had said.

He had added that India has been combating transnational terrorism for decades.

"Long before the world woke up to it, we knew the price of safety and security. Thousands of our people made the ultimate sacrifice in this fight. But it is no longer enough that terrorism is fought only in the physical space. It is now spreading its presence through online radicalisation and cyber threats," he had said.

Modi had also said what each country does within its boundaries is not enough.

"There is a need to further develop international strategies. Establishment of early detection and warning systems, protecting transportation services, security for communication infrastructure, security for critical infrastructure, technical and technological assistance, intelligence exchange -- many of these things need to be taken to a new level," the prime minister had said.