Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic addressed a conference in Tirana, on March 4th,, saying that good cooperation between all the ministries, prosecutors' offices and courts in the region is needed to fight organized crime successfully, the Serbian Ministry of Interior has announced.

According to the announcement, Dacic used his welcome speech at the opening of the 7th annual ministerial conference on border security in southeastern Europe to point out the necessity of strong cooperation.

"We need strong cooperation, and I am certain that regardless of our political differences, we should be one step ahead in cooperation and ensure the safety of the region," said Dacic.

Deputy Prime Minister Dacic noted the necessity of cooperation between police services in the region and security bodies in the world on order to prevent illegal drug trafficking.

"All reports, including the report of U.S. security services, say that the Balkans is a major transit area, and that almost 80 percent of all heroin which comes to Europe from Afghanistan crosses this territory," Dacic said at the Ministerial Conference on Cooperation in the Field of Border Security in Southeast Europe.

Dacic pointed out that in the last few years many criminal groups from the region have been operating in Latin America and participating in cocaine trafficking, "which means we need to cooperate, not only in the region, but also with the top world services to fight this common evil."

Dacic reminded that the ministerial conference is held annually in cooperation with the Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces and under the wing of the presiding member of the European Union, which is currently Spain.

"It is important to point out once again that the goal of all countries in the region should be to make our borders completely open for goods and people, but completely closed for crime," Dacic said, the Serbian Interior Ministry released.

The conference was opened by Albania's Minister of Interior Lulzim Basha, who noted that the aim is to have open borders that could be crossed by anyone, but which would also be controlled, denying access to international criminals.

The conference, held under the patronage of Spain's presidency over the EU, is attended by ministers from the region and representatives of the EC, OSCE, Conflict Prevention Centre and other international organizations.

The topics for the conference are integrated border administration, achieved progress in border security in 2009, implementation of the 2010 and 2011 strategy, overview of the improvements in border security in southeastern Europe during 2009 and suggestions on how to expand operational cooperation that should be implemented by 2011.