EU, US officials meet in Vilnius to discuss cooperation

European Union and the United States of America Justice and Home Affairs senior officials meeting is being held in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius Wednesday to discuss issues of cooperation in the area of justice and home affairs. This meeting is dedicated to the preparation for the EU and US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting, which will be held in December of 2013 in Washington, said an EU Presidency, held by Lithuania, in a statement today. The first session of the meeting is dedicated to the justice issues including the progress achieved in the negotiations between the EU and US regarding agreement on data protection. Much attention will be paid to the EU and US cooperation in the fight against illegal drugs and psychoactive substances as well as preparation for high-level multilateral meetings on this topic, noted the statement. The plan to discuss issues of judicial cooperation and the rights of the victims of crimes, and the best practices and future actions for development of the policy regarding the disabled persons will be presented, too. The second part of the meeting will be dedicated to the home affair issues. The participants will discuss mobility, border management and migration issues. The EU and the US will share information about the recent achievements in the area of cyber security and the fight against cyber crime, issues of the fight against-terrorism and ensuring of public safety will be also discussed. This is a regular EU-US officials meeting, which is arranged once every six months by the EU presidency.