EU to open anti-terror centre in B'desh

A visiting European Union delegation has said that it has reached an agreement with the Bangladesh government to set up a regional counter-terrorism centre in Dhaka by next year.

"We have chosen Bangladesh to host the regional centre considering its strong commitment to eliminate all sorts of terrorism," said Stefan Frowein, ambassador of the EU delegation to Bangladesh, adding that 1.5 million Euro (about Rs 9.2 crore) was available for setting up the centre in Dhaka.

The EU will provide both financial and technological assistance to the centre, besides training people across South Asia to combat terrorism.

The international standard centre will start functioning early next year, the Xinhua news agency quoted Stefan Frowein, ambassador of the EU delegation to Bangladesh, as saying.

Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper further said that renowned counter-terrorism experts from European countries, the United States and Canada will train investigators, police and intelligence agency personnel to fight terrorism.