Since its founding ten years ago, the Global Coalition against Daesh has chalked up tangible success in the fight against ISIS. Although it continues to pose a threat, the terrorist militia has been dramatically weakened and no longer controls territory in Iraq and Syria. This success is rooted in the dovetailing of civilian stabilisation measures and development cooperation with military approaches over the years. Since 2014, the Federal Government has been involved in substantial civilian measures in Iraq and provided a total of 3.2 billion euro of support in the country.

An important aspect of the Coalition’s engagement was and remains the joint Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) to which the Federal Government has been deploying members of the Bundeswehr since 2015. At Iraq’s request and with the support of the United States and the international community, OIR will shift to new forms of security cooperation over the next two years. This is what the governments of the United States and Iraq have agreed upon in collaboration with the Coalition partners. The aim is to develop a long-term and sustainable Iraqi security architecture with the engagement of international partners for the period after OIR. The Coalition Ministerial will also focus on this topic today.

Major challenges remain in the fight against ISIS. Although underground, the terrorist organisation remains willing and able to engage in terrorist attacks. Now it is important to consolidate progress on bringing stability and peace to the areas liberated from ISIS to give the people in Iraq and Syria prospects for the future. In addition, ISIS is currently extending its activities in African and Central Asian countries. There is thus clear consensus within the Coalition that the fight against IS continues. In future, there will be more of a focus on civilian measures in efforts to combat the terrorist militia, while the scope will be widened beyond Iraq and Syria to include Africa and Central Asia. We are laying the political foundations for this realignment process at today’s meeting.