Serbia is willing to get fully involved in the global fight against terrorism, according to what was said at a regional workshop on cutting off funding for terrorist groups, which the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) has connected to organized crime.

There are indications that organized crime and terrorists are connected, said SECI Director Gurbuz Bahadir. They are sometimes directly involved in drug trafficking, for example, or provide support and security for organized crime gangs, he added.

Countries of Southeastern Europe do not have a problem with terrorism, so they are not very interested in fighting that form of crime, Bahadir noted.

The SECI working group does not receive enought information and its activity is reduced, he remarked.Serbia's State Secretary for Interior Dragan Markovic stressed that Serbia wished to become the region's leader in the fight against crime and was willing to get fully involved in the global fight against terrorism.

The recent arrest of a Moroccan terrorist confirms that, he stated.

Cutting off funding for terrorist groups is a priority, because terrorism, just like organized crime, knows no borders, so international cooperation is required, Markovic pointed out.