Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter said in Vienna, opening a seminar on strengthening police cooperation in the Western Balkans, that the new regional police cooperation project was designed to pull the rug out from under terrorist and mafia organizations.

The DET ILECUS II project was set up to strengthen police cooperation in the Western Balkans and it encompasses cooperation in the fight against organized crime, especially drug trafficking, and terrorism prevention.

The 30-month project is being conducted by Germany and Austria in cooperation with the EC.

According to Fekter, the project envisages strategic and operational cooperation with Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYRMacedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, as well as the development of communication networks.

The second pillar of the project are information exchange, analysis and terrorism prevention, with a focus on the fight against financial crime and narcotics trade, she explained.

Europol, Interpol, Eurojust and the European Anti-Fraud Agency OLAF support the project. Mladen Spasic, an advisor to Dacic, is taking part in the Vienna seminar.