PA 11 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON COMBATING TERRORISM IN THE DANUBE REGION IS TAKING PLACE IN SOFIA

The Ministers responsible for home affairs and authorised representatives of the respective Ministries of the Danube Region countries take part in Ministerial Conference on Combating Terrorism in the Danube Region on 21 and 22 January 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria. PA 11 partners and stakeholders – Europol, the Danube Strategy Point, SELEC, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Foundation are also taking part in the event. The Ministers agreed that in order to achieve efficiency in countering terrorism, the cooperation in the areas of prevention, border security, critical infrastructure protection from terrorist acts and information exchange should be intensified. The Ministers reiterated their commitment to develop further the cooperation in the area of cyber security, considering it inter alia an important aspect of terrorism prevention. They outlined that counteraction to terrorist propaganda and recruitment of terrorists on the Internet is of key importance for eliminating the factors leading to terrorism. The Ministers shared the view that the common preventive capacity of the Danube Region should be strengthened through coordination of the national prevention strategies, regular exchange of experience and best practices and joint specialised training of experts where possible. To this end, the Ministers tasked their experts to consult further and propose specific common initiatives on countering terrorism in the Danube Region.