SW News: At a trilateral summit in the city of Ancona in central Italy on July 10, representatives from Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia vowed to combat migrant trafficking and international organized crime.

The three nations committed to working together to combat human trafficking to stop the flow of unauthorized immigration and prevent migrant deaths at sea.
Along with his counterparts from Zagreb and Ljubljana, Gordan Grli Radman, and Tanja Fajon, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani praised the positive results of the meeting and urged EU partners to move forward because the only way to resolve the global migration crisis can only be European. This would entail joint defence of Europe's external borders and assistance to Africa in addressing the underlying issues that lead people to flee their country of origin.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Fajon expressed alarm over the increasing flow of undocumented immigrants through the Balkan route when speaking about the upper Adriatic region. According to a joint statement signed by the three ministers at the conclusion of the meeting, the priorities on this front were the enhancement of joint patrols' activities and their modalities; the improvement of readmission procedures; the reinforcement of information exchange, including for investigation purposes; and the coordination of national positions in the competent institutional bodies of the European Union.

Participants also called for cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime, with particular attention to migrant trafficking networks and human trafficking. They said that the countries want to work together to fully exploit the region's potential for growth and development and that containing migration flows is only one aspect of the extensive cooperation initiatives between Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. This involves encouraging port development.

Italian Foreign Minister Tajani said that the Adriatic Sea is the fastest path to reach Europe, in comparison to huge northern European ports like Antwerp and Rotterdam, and that ports must be more competitive, not only for exports but also for imports from China or India.