Southeastern Europe: Justice and Interior Ministers in Joint Fight Against Terrorism

Ministers of Interior and Justice from Southeastern Europe (SEE) agreed on the importance of a joint approach to preventing, detecting, and combating terrorism in the region at the conference of ministers of justice and interior affairs that concluded today in Budva, Montenegro, reports the Patria News Agency.

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) will continue to support the development of a platform for regional cooperation in Southeastern Europe that would bring together all relevant national, regional, and international actors with the aim of developing a joint approach to the issue of terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters.

Ranko Krivokapić, Speaker of the Parliament of Montenegro, said in his opening address that such a good response from ministers to the conference indicates a great interest in jointly resolving this problem.  

- Terrorism is a threat that causes latent fear among our citizens and which we must address jointly, without delay, Krivokapić said.  

At the beginning of the conference, participants were addressed by Raško Konjević, Minister of Interior of Montenegro, Zoran Pažen, Minister of Justice of Montenegro, Vesna Györkös Žnidar, Minister of Interior of Slovenia, Saimir Tahiri, Minister of Interior of Albania, Mitja Drobnič, Head of the European Union Delegation to Montenegro, and Goran Svilanović, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council.

All agreed that terrorism represents a threat that transcends the borders of the region and reminded that criminals in the region cooperate much more effectively than institutions.

- The phenomenon of terrorism as such requires regional and global cooperation of all relevant institutions and actors, said Goran Svilanović, adding that this phenomenon highlights the importance of a decisive regional response, given that its consequences affect the entire region, but also beyond.  

The Secretariat of the Regional Cooperation Council supported the organization of the ministerial conference led by the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro and the Ministry of Interior of Slovenia under the auspices of the Brdo Process and the Albanian Chairmanship of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP).