The Prosecutor General chairs the First Annual Meeting of the General Assembly of the Arab Association for Prosecutors, held within the events of the International Conference on the Role of Public Prosecution Authorities in Combatting Transnational Crime.

On the 7th of November 2021, the Prosecutor General of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and President of the Arab Association of Prosecutors (AAP) – Counselor/ Hamada Al Sawi – chaired the First Annual Meeting of the General Assembly of the Arab Association for Prosecutors, held within the events of the International Conference on the Role of Public Prosecution Authorities in Combatting Transnational Crime. The Prosecutor Generals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Morocco, the State of Kuwait, the State of Palestine, and the Sultanate of Oman attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Counselor/ Hamada Al-Sawi, the Prosecutor General, delivered a speech during which he thanked the participants for accepting the invitation of the Egyptian Public Prosecution to attend the events of this international conference which is attended by the Honorable Prosecutor Generals and the Directors of the Public Prosecution Authorities of numerous Arab and African countries. His Excellency pointed out that this conference is the first event of its kind including members of both associations, which aims at facilitating the exchanging of experiences and insights on topics of common interest and addressing the challenges and difficulties facing the mechanisms of international judicial cooperation, in particular the requests for extradition and mutual judicial assistance.

His Excellency also highlighted the successful emergency online ad-hoc meeting of the Arab General Assembly held last year, which constitutes a precedent in the activities of the association. The meeting focused on discussing internal affairs of the association and exchanging experiences and best practices applied by the Public Prosecutions of member states in facing the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to protect the health and safety of the citizens and individuals remanded in custody or imprisoned without violating the rules of criminal justice and respecting the rule of law and the decisions of the judiciary.

In addition, His Excellency saluted the efforts of the Honorable Prosecutor Generals, members of the association, as well as its presidency, in holding a workshop via online platforms on "the role of public prosecutors in combating the crimes of terrorism and its financing, and the importance of international cooperation and parallel financial investigations”, with the aim of exchanging experiences and good practices among the public prosecutors of our countries.

Moreover, His Excellency stressed on the keenness of the Presidency of the association to include more Arab public prosecution authorities to its membership, in order to expand its activities throughout the Arab world and to achieve the necessary integration and communication between public prosecution authorities, in a way that strengthens the mechanisms of international judicial cooperation and contributes to preventing the creation of a safe haven for criminals. From this standpoint, several Arab Prosecutor Generals who are not members of the Association were invited to attend this international conference which will be held over the next two days, to introduce them to the association, its members, activities and objectives.

He also stressed on the readiness of the Egyptian Public Prosecution to provide all forms of support to the association to enable it to achieve its objectives and achieving a tangible effect on all its activities and events on the international, regional, and national levels.

He concluded his speech by thanking all attendees for participating in the meeting, expressing his aspiration of their interaction which contributes to the success of it.

The participants addressed several topics, on top of which was the adoption of the proposed memorandum of understanding between the Arab and African Associations for Prosecutors, stemming from the keenness of the Presidency of the two associations to establish a link between the member public prosecution authorities, to maximize the use of mechanisms of international judicial cooperation and to encourage legal dialogue and organize trainings with the aim of building capacities and enhancing skills and exchanging best practices in relation to the conduct of criminal investigations. This, in turn, will contribute to the fight against crime in general and organized crimes in particular. The participants agreed to sign the proposed memorandum of understanding.

The audience also discussed the training programs to be held for the members of the Public Prosecution Authorities of the Association during 2021. Counselor/ Hamada Al-Sawi - the Prosecutor General - suggested to hold several training courses and workshops dedicated to investigating and combatting crimes of corruption, human trafficking, terrorism, terrorism financing and money laundering. He referred to his discussions with the Arab Prosecutor Generals during their reception in the past two days on the need to hold these courses to exchange insights, ideas and experiences to raise the technical level of public prosecution authorities and suggested the preparation of a register for special technical experts from member states of the association in combating these crimes. Such experts would assist Member States in organizing sessions and workshops in those areas, provided that the register is circulated between member states, and confirmed in this context the pursuit of all investigative and prosecutorial bodies of Member States, on their various legislative systems, to reach the truth and expedite the prosecution of the accused in urgent and fair trials, after speeding up the process of collecting evidence which contributes eventually to the establishment of justice.

His Excellency also suggested launching a website for the association in order to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise in various areas of investigation, pointing out that he had previously proposed to the association in an emergency meeting to launch the website to which the members agreed. Accordingly, he instructed the competent department within the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to coordinate with the leading companies in this field and is currently in the process of finalizing the procedures of launching this website.

As a part of the proposals submitted by the audience, Mr. Ali Bin Fadl Al-Bua'anin, the Prosecutor General of the Kingdom of Bahrain, suggested holding a specialized online workshop on the digital transformation of the Public Prosecution Authorities, and collecting digital evidence mechanisms. Counselor/ Hamada Al Sawi -the Prosecutor General- stressed on the interest of the Egyptian Public Prosecution in this topic, and that it launched a strategy in the field of digital transformation of the Egyptian Public Prosecution which is based on highest levels scientific and technical standards in order to keep pace with the technological advancements and the policies of the Egyptian state in that area. He also invited the participants to hold training courses in this field and benefit from the practical experiences of the member states, led by the State of Bahrain, which declared its willingness to share its experience in this area.

His Excellency also stressed the need to organize practical and theoretical courses in the same field and shed the light on the importance of experiences gained by practice which reflect positively on the work of the public prosecution authorities.

The meeting ended with the unanimous approval of all the members of the association on the continuity of the Egyptian Public Prosecution in its presidency of the association and its membership of its executive committee. The Prosecutor General of Egypt, Counselor/ Hamada ElSawy, invited the participants for a field visit of the main attractions of the New Administrative Capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt.