Qatar will host a three-day joint security exercise ‘Watan’ from tomorrow, with the participation of 13 countries. The exercise will demonstrate country's preparedness to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
As many as 28 military, civil, organisational and service authorities will be part of the three-day event. Officials said the exercise is the largest of its kind in terms of the numbers of participating authorities internally and externally.
The exercise will be conducted at multiple sites in the country, including the competitive facilities for the championship and non-competitive facilities and a number of public, vital and tourist facilities on land and at sea.
This was announced yesterday during a press conference by the organising authorities of the exercise at the Officers Club of the General Directorate of Civil Defence in the presence of a large number of local and international media representatives.
The event will be organised under the patronage of Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al Thani, Chairman of the Security Committee for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
It also features the diversification of its various scenarios and gradations based on all kinds of potential internal and external risks during the organisation of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, after being studied by specialists and experts in the areas included in the exercise.
Addressing the event, Lt. Col. Mubarak Sherida Al Kaabi, commander of the exercise, said the exercise aims to enhance the roles of the authorities concerned while carrying out their regular tasks and the additional tasks to them during the 2022 world cup, to measure the speed of response to emergency situations, and to activate the command and control mechanism and joint cooperation between military and civil authorities.
He added that the Watan exercise aims to enhance close cooperation with the brotherly and friendly forces participating in it, and to ensure integration of efforts and cooperation to achieve the best security experiences in major sporting events hosted by Qatar.
Jassim Abdul Aziz Al Jassim, Executive Vice-President of Operations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, said the organisation of any global event cannot be performed by one party in all its tasks, but rather requires cooperation and joint coordination.
Therefore, he said, the ‘Watan’ exercise simulates the effectiveness of coordination between the authorities concerned to ensure the organisation of a successful championship, noting that the Watan exercise includes a set of field and desk exercises to simulate some of the scenarios that may occur during the organisation of the tournament.
Al Jassim added that preparations for the exercise began some time ago, and a set of civilian and military scenarios were prepared based on previous experiences and potential events with the aim of testing readiness and integration of roles to ensure a safe hosting of sporting events hosted by the State of Qatar.
Answering questions, the speakers explained that the exercise scenarios include the tasks and duties of the security operations of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the operational and organisational plans for the tournament, and others that simulate the tasks and duties of public security and scenarios that simulate joint work between all military, organisational and service bodies.
The authorities organising the exercise are keen to implement the exercise with high accuracy and professionalism without compromising the normal daily life of citizens and residents. The authorities concerned will evaluate the outcomes of the exercise to identify the positives to strengthen them and the negatives, if any, and work to address them.
The exercise will conclude on November 17.
