OSCE meeting focuses on fighting cross-border organized crime in south-east Europe

VIENNA, 20 February 2004 - Combating organized crime, trafficking and terrorism in south-eastern Europe (SEE) was high on the agenda of a pioneering meeting which ends today in Vienna.

The Seminar on Cross-border Co-operation in SEE, the first of a series of six to be held in 2004, brought together the Heads of Border Forces of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

"It is crucial for the security and stability of the region that all border services achieve common standards in line with the EU Integrated Border Management Concept and improve their cross-border co-operation," said OSCE Secretary General Jan Kubis in his address to the participants in the two-day event.

"This would enable them to successfully combat organized crime, trafficking of human beings, drugs and weapons, and terrorism."

The Heads of Border Forces discussed the OSCE's "SEE Regional Cross-border Co-operation Programme" and gave their input to its final design.

The programme is the OSCE's major contribution to the Ohrid Process on Regional Border Security and Management in SEE, which was initiated in May 2003 at the Ohrid Conference.

At Ohrid, the countries of south-eastern Europe agreed on a Common Platform on Border Security and Management which had been proposed by NATO, the EU, the Stability Pact and the OSCE. In addition, participants endorsed a Way Forward Document, committing themselves to work jointly on achieving results based on short and medium term objectives.