RIYADH, Feb 6: A Saudi proposal for an international counter-terrorism centre has received a mixed response, ranging from cautious welcome to indifference, from delegates at a conference in the kingdom on combating terror.

"The centre would not end the need for bilateral exchange of information... Nothing would," homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, who leads the US delegation, told reporters on Saturday.

Townsend said however that anything done to increase sharing of intelligence "is a net gain" in the fight against terrorism.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz opened the four-day conference on Saturday with a call for the establishment of an international centre to combat and pre-empt terrorism.

"I call on all countries to set up a centre for combating terrorism. Those working in it would be experts in this field," he told delegates from some 50 countries and international bodies attending the gathering.

The centre would "exchange and pass information instantly in a manner compatible with the speed of events and prevent them before they occur," he said.

A senior member of the British delegation gave a guarded welcome to the Saudi proposal.

"It is important that more work is done on understanding the process by which younger people get radicalized and become sympathetic to terrorists, while a minority become terrorists themselves," the official said, requesting anonymity.

He said the centre "would be a tool against terrorism", but insisted that fighting terrorism would be better done through cooperation between security agencies on a bilateral basis.

A diplomat participating in the conference said that the proposal was mentioned briefly beforehand but without details, while others denied any previous knowledge of the Saudi initiative.

Another diplomat said that a final decision about the proposal cannot be reached during the conference as such a matter would have to be referred to the governments concerned.

The head of the German delegation said there were "a lot of issues not entirely clear about the proposed centre", wondering it if would be a centre with a regional role as opposed to an international centre or an agency under UN umbrella.

An Italian delegate said the Saudi initiative needed "in-depth discussion ... It is very valued but should not overlap with other initiatives worldwide."

Townsend praised the performance of Saudi security forces, saying that "the world cannot defeat terrorism without Saudi Arabia defeating terrorism on its own grounds."

Thorough security measures have been in place for the conference, with special security forces deployed along the roads leading to the venue of the gathering.-AFP