Beijing is reaching out to the international community to cooperate on security at the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

"We encourage various nations and organizations to contribute their efforts toward Olympic security," said Liu Shaowu, chief of the Security Department of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

 

China will keep the rest of the world notified of security-related developments both before and during the Games in a timely fashion, he said on Wednesday at a conference.

 

Dozens of security personnel from Olympic committees and foreign embassies in Beijing were invited to the conference, co-hosted by Liu's department and the International Liaison Department of the Security Command Center for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (OSCC).

 

OSCC will work with embassy staff to organize an international liaison mechanism and an Olympic security conference.

 

The conference will be held every three or six months before the Olympic Games, and daily during the competition.

 

The liaison mechanism is hoped to open up new communication channels with foreign embassies to promote mutual understanding, said OSCC department head Zhang Weihua.

 

The OSCC will also arrange on-site visits for foreign Olympic security delegates during a series of test events that are scheduled to run in the capital from August this year.

 

The first Closed Door Seminar of the Coordination and Consulting Committee on International Security Cooperation for the 29th Olympic Games will be held next month.

 

The seminar lets previous host countries share their experiences. It also provides a forum for participating countries to disseminate their security requirements.

 

BOCOG has invited over 70 experts to work as security advisers for the Games. It will employ 80,000 security officials, including volunteers, and give them extensive training on the technology that will be used, how to administer emergency first aid and other issues like common international practices.

 

Zhang's department will also strengthen its cooperation with related departments under the United Nations, the International Criminal Police Organization and other organizations.

 

(China Daily March 30, 2007)