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Romanian, Polish interior ministers discuss EU's external borders security
Romania's Interior Minister Petre Toba and his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak on Thursday discussed the importance of security at the EU's external borders being improved, as the management of migration flow is the main current concern with the European countries, Romania's Interior Ministry (MAI) says in a press statement.
According to MAI, Interior Minister Petre Toba on Thursday had an official meeting with Poland's Interior and Administration Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, to discuss how to consolidate cooperation in the home affairs area.
Toba is quoted as saying Poland is a major European partner to Romania, a traditional ally sharing strategic interests inside the EU and NATO, which entails strengthening the bilateral relation, including in the area of safety and security.
"The current regional context, the new security risks and challenges, particularly the migration phenomenon, terrorism and the radicalisation trends, the phenomenon of foreign fighters, but also the risks related to organised crime require an intensification of data and intelligence exchanges," said Toba.
According to the statement, the two officials highlighted the importance of security at the EU's external borders being improved, as the management of migration flow is the main current concern with the European countries.
Toba mentioned that MAI has taken measures to strengthen border security, including through joint measures with neighbouring states, while actively contributing significant human and logistic resources to FRONTEX, which placed it second in 2015 among the contributors to this European agency, the statement reads.
"Both Romania and Poland are facing the same challenges, mainly because we are in charge with protecting EU's external borders, which means that we are security providers not only to our citizens, but to the entire European Union," said the Polish interior minister.
Moreover, Blaszczak underscored that it is important for the two countries to have bilateral consultations on current European affairs and files.
During the meeting, the two ministers put forth a series of proposals for the participation of Romanian and Polish specialists in joint training projects in areas of interest such as the fight against organised crime, human and drug trafficking.
At the end of the meeting, Blaszczak invited Toba to continue their bilateral dialogue on a visit to Warsaw, MAI also says.