Speaking at the fifth regional conference of ministers of the interior, Kirin said that organised crime, terrorism, corruption and illegal migrations undermined democratic development and processes and posed a threat to security in any country, which he said was why there was a common interest in countering such forms of crime.
Participants in the conference agreed to establish groups of experts in charge of specific areas of coordinated activity in areas of common interest, with Croatia accepting to set up a group for asylum and human rights issues.
Slovene Minister of the Interior Dragutin Mate told reporters after the meeting that the participating countries were helping one another through cooperation among their police forces and the exchange of experience and knowledge in the fight against cross-border crime, as well as through cooperation within the so-called Hague programme on the adoption of joint security standards in the European Union.
Minister Liese Prokop of Austria stressed the importance of cooperation in regional security, saying that security would be an important topic in the first half of next year, during Austria's EU presidency.