Greek gov't hosts EU-Arab conference on security, stability

The first Rhodes Conference for Security and Stability in the Mediterranean, an initiative of the Greek Foreign Ministry, opened on Thursday with the participation of foreign ministers and other high-ranking officials from 14 European and Arab states.

On the agenda of the two-day forum are current major common challenges such as terrorism and the refugee crisis.

The aim of the conference is to build new bridges and pave ground for closer cross-border collaboration in the political, economic and cultural levels to resolve common problems, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said in his opening speech.

Collective and coordinated cooperation to end wars in Libya, Iraq and Syria and find peaceful and long- lasting solutions to the Kurdish issue and the Palestinian issue, is the only way forward to address terrorism and the refugee flows, Kotzias and other delegates argued, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

In order to effectively deal with the challenges, Athens proposed deeper collaboration of intelligence services and police forces against terrorism and organized crime networks.

The conference is held a few hours before Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomes in Athens the leaders of Mediterranean countries to discuss the same common challenges in addition of the economic crisis.

The two main goals of the conference to introduce a Mediterranean perspective into the European Union's agenda and develop a new European vision for dealing with joint challenges relating to migration, security and the economy," according to an announcement issued by Tsipras' office on Thursday. Endit