Interior minister seeks closer ties with Italy, region

TIRANA, Dec. 2 – Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri made a visit to nearby Italy, where he met with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano and also took part at the regional meeting with other colleagues to discuss strengthening cooperation to fight crime in the region.
With Alfano, Tahiri discussed on how to further strengthen the already very close cooperation between the two countries, especially in fighting the organized crime, illegal traffic and terrorism.
Tahiri told Alfano about Albania’s successful police operation last June when they cut some half a million cannabis plants and more than 100 tons of those drugs mainly in the southern village of Lazarat and later in northwestern Shkodra region.
Tahiri thanked Alfano for the assistance that Italy has continuously given to the Albanian police on fighting drug traffic and also for that operation too with the support of its planes.
Tahiri reassured him that Albania is set on keeping the country clear of the list of main drug trafficking lines.
He also said that his ministry has already created a department with some 100 experts on fighting terrorism. He asked the partner for closer cooperation on the issue.
Such issues were also discussed at the ministerial of the Western Balkans with the participation of Italy and France too.
There were representatives from Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. It focused on the fight against organized crime and the international cooperation on that.
Tahiri suggested the creation of regional institutions on the cooperation and coordination of the joint work on such issues, saying that crime knows no borders and bureaucracy.