Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania sign anti-crime deal

Aksu and his Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts, Ioan Rus and Georgi Petkanov, decided to review the existing cooperation between the three countries in illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other types of organized crime and exchanged views on "the establishment of a coordination center on coastal guard and border police."

Aksu, speaking after the signing of the memorandum of understanding, said he and his counterparts had also taken up on economic cooperation and agreed to ease existing restrictions to facilitate transit transportation.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Petkanov said for his part that interior ministers had a major responsibility in development of good relations and added: "Crimes are no longer confined to boundaries of a certain country; they go through borders. They have become organized now. The fight against organized crimes must be in an organized manner."

The three countries will both ensure security within their borders and export security to other countries, said Romanian minister Rus. "Cooperation between our countries is the only way of fighting against crime and Romania will do what is necessary for its part," he said.

The ministers also agreed to further existing cooperation by extending it to other fields as well."Taking into consideration the NATO membership process of Bulgaria and Romania, our future efforts should be channelled into deeper strategic fields," said Bulgarian minister Petkanov.