Counter Terror Expo 2011 has surpassed records in terms of exhibitor, delegate and visitor numbers. Held against a backdrop of greater instability and heightened tensions globally, this world-beating event saw the numbers swell to unprecedented proportion. Provisional figures indicate that some eight thousand people passed through the Grand & National Hall doors at London Olympia.

A real and present danger has emerged from instability across the Middle East and North Africa in recent months. The wind of change now sweeping across these regions prompted a moment of pause to take stock and has driven renewed impetus in addressing the challenges professionals within the counter-terrorism sphere face on a daily basis.

Continued and new challenges facing those tasked with addressing them, informed and directed the Counter Terror Expo conference programme.

Within the context of the centrepiece 'Global Counter Terrorism' conference, Muhammad Rafiuddlin Shah, Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) and Director, CTITF Office, United Nations; Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Jean Dominique Nollet, Europol, Admiral the Right Honourable Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC ADC DUniv, Lindsay Clutterbuck, RAND Europe, and Patrick Mercer OBE, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transatlantic and International Security, amongst many other renowned experts in the field, laid the issues bare and emphasised the challenges in addressing them.

Other principal conference streams honed in on specific issues faced in terms of Critical National Infrastructure, Protecting Crowded Spaces and Cyber Security & Electronic Terrorism. Two other conference events examined how to go about Designing-out Terrorism and best practice Emergency Services response to incidents.

"Counter Terror Expo's conference programme brought sharp focus to the challenges faced going forward, outlined in some considerable detail methods to address them and provided a forum for considerable on-site and on-going debate. We are indebted to the very many experts and analysts in the counter-terrorism sphere for their insightful contributions, which collectively make the Counter Terror Expo conference programme a globally dominating event," a spokesperson commented.

The conference programme was supported by one of the world's most extensive hardware and software exhibitions, which included interactive demonstrations and specialist workshop presentations covering the gamut of counter-terrorism activity. Over four-hundred of the principal and leading global defence and security companies exhibited, thus emphasising that Counter Terror Expo remains a vitally important and key calendar event amongst professionals in the field.

As the world order changes, new threats and new challenges will inevitably emerge. Counter Terror Expo remains the only event of its kind to bring the global leaders in the field together to address these threats and challenges as they evolve.