Marrakech, Dec 16 (IANS): The Global Counter-terrorism Forum (GCTF) held the inaugural meeting of its working group on foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) in this pretty resort city and conference centre,with the aim of coordinating global strategies against this growing global threat.

Co-chaired by hosts Morocco and the Netherlands, the meeting Monday was attended by senior officials and experts from 40 countries and several international, regional and sub-regional organisations, MAP news agency reported.

The working group is dedicated to addressing the FTF challenge, with particular focus on the implementation of the GCTF's practices to help coordinate the growing number of efforts at the national, regional and international levels.

Launched in 2011, GCTF provides a platform for national counter-terrorism (CT) officials and practitioners to meet their counterparts from key countries to share CT experiences, expertise, strategies and capacity-building programmes.

It also prioritises civilian capacity building in areas such as rule of law, border management and countering violent extremism.

The other working groups of the forum focus on criminal justice, countering violent extremism, detention and reintegration.