ROME, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Intelligence sharing and information exchange against terrorism were discussed by police chiefs of nine southern European Union (EU) countries at the Rome's Police Academy on Tuesday.
The meeting of the European Relationship for Mediterranean Security (E.R.ME.S) drew top security officers from all EU members facing, or having direct links to, the Mediterranean: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Cyprus and Malta.
"Our forum today focuses on the connection between law enforcement forces and intelligence services, and on the need of immediate information sharing," Italian police chief Franco Gabrielli told reporters.
"This is crucial for security in the current context, which is marked by an extremely liquid and unpredictable terrorism threat," Gabrielli added.
Talks addressed the "main criminal phenomena in the Mediterranean" such as international terrorism, illegal immigration, and trans-national crime groups involved in the trafficking of drug, weapons, and human beings, the Italy's Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Officials also shared their respective national approaches in security and intelligence, and Italy brought its experience with the Strategic Anti-Terrorism Analysis Committee (CASA), which was set up in 2003 and involves in permanent synergy intelligence, all police forces (including finance and judicial police), and security forces.
At the end of the gathering, the nine countries signed a common declaration defining principles and guidelines for a joint anti-terrorism action to counter and fight terrorism.
The group pledged the maximum efforts in setting up "more effective forms of information osmosis in all of the sectors involved in counter-terrorism."
This effort would be made in the perspective that "the value of information does not lie in owning data, but in sharing them," the declaration stated.
Tuesday's appointment followed a first meeting of the E.R.ME.S on immigration, which took place in Italy's southern island of Lampedusa in June 2017.
