JEDDAH, 29 January 2005 — Delegates from 49 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, as well as representatives of several international organizations will participate in the first global anti-terror conference in Riyadh from Feb. 5 to 8.

Crown Prince Abdullah will open the four-day event at the newly established King Abdul Aziz Convention Center in the capital, Al-Jazirah Arabic daily reported.

The Foreign Ministry has completed preparations for the conference that will highlight Saudi Arabia’s efforts to combat terrorism.

The conference will discuss ways to eradicate the root causes of global terrorism and measures to help tackle money laundering as well as drug and arms smuggling.

The discussions will focus on four topics: Roots of terrorism; relation between terrorism and drugs; the culture of terrorism; and the relation between terrorism and arms smuggling and money laundering.

A number of heads of state and presidents of international organizations are expected to take part in the conference aimed at exchanging information and experience and fostering cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

“We have invited all countries that have suffered from terrorism to the conference and all have agreed to take part,” said Prince Turki ibn Muhammad, assistant undersecretary for political affairs at the Foreign Ministry.

The conference underlines the Saudi government’s call for joint international efforts to confront and root out terrorism and address the reasons that lead to the spread of this dangerous phenomenon and freeze its financial sources.

The participants include 14 Arab countries including Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Morocco, Jordan and Algeria and 14 non-Arab Asian countries including Japan, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and the Philippines.

Leading international organizations participating in the event are the United Nations, Organization of the Islamic Conference, Arab League, European Union, Gulf Cooperation Council, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement and the Makkah-based Muslim World League.