RIYADH: New Zealand Ambassador James Monroe recently visited the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, known as Etidal. Praising the work of the center, the envoy said Etidal’s efforts are advanced and critical in its line of work. Monroe has completed his term as the ambassador to the Kingdom. “Your work is vitally and globally important. It has been a pleasure to see the progress you have achieved while maintaining your exacting standards and dedication to your methodology. I wish the center and all your staff the very best,” he said. The secretary-general of the center, Dr. Mansour Al-Shammari, praised the role of New Zealand in promoting values of coexistence and combating hate speech. The center was established on three basic pillars: Confronting extremism by the latest intellectual, media, and numerical methods and means. The center uses different methods to counter extremist ideology such as software capable of monitoring, classifying, and analyzing any extremist content within just 6 seconds of its online broadcast and with more than 80 percent accuracy. It has a team of multidisciplinary researchers competent in using data analytical tools. It operates in the extremists’ most widely used languages and dialects. Advanced analytical models are being developed to locate digital media platforms, highlight the extremist focal point, and secret sources of polarization and acquiring activities. The center works to refute hate and extremist speech and promote concepts of moderation through the production of media content that confronts radical thoughts.