The inaugural meeting started with a recitation of verses from the Holy Quran. The Crown Prince delivered the following speech: Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you, First of all, on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, I welcome my brothers and colleagues of the ministers of defense of Islamic States Counter Terrorism Coalition. Our meeting today is very important as in the past years, terrorism has been operating in all our countries and most of these organizations operate in several countries without a strong, good and distinguished coordination among Islamic countries. Today, this matter is finished in the presence of this coalition. Today, more than forty Islamic countries are sending a very strong signal that they will work together and coordinate very strongly to support each others' efforts, whether in military efforts, or financial, intelligence, and political aspects. This matter will happen today and every state will provide what it can in each area according to its capabilities and potentials. Today, we have in our meeting several initiatives that will be announced in the final statement after the ministers' agreement on them. I express today our condolences to our brothers in Egypt, as a leadership and people, for what happened in the past days. It is really a very painful incident which makes us recall regularly and strongly the danger of this extremist terrorism. We all condole our brothers in Egypt and affirm that we will stand by Egypt and all the countries of the world to combat terrorism and extremism. Today, terrorism and extremism have not achieved only the greatest danger of killing of innocent people or disseminating hatred, but the greatest danger done by the extremist terrorism is distorting the reputation of our tolerant religion, so we will not allow of what they have done of distorting this tolerant religion and intimidating innocents in Islamic countries and all countries of the world to continue any more than today. Today began tracking down terrorism and we see its defeats in many countries of the world, especially in Islamic countries, and today we will confirm that we will pursue it until it disappears completely from the surface of the earth. I welcome my brothers once again, wishing successful outcomes for this summit and that efforts of this coalition are successful and distinguished. Then the Crown Prince, participants and audience watched a film on IMCTC and its importance in confronting terrorism. --More 15:47 LOCAL TIME 12:47 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w546592