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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The recent terror attacks in Paris and Tunis have showed that stronger security cooperation is needed between countries in Europe and North Africa, European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said Monday.
Mogherini was speaking at a meeting of foreign ministers from the two regions about terrorism and illegal immigration in the northeastern Spanish city of Barcelona.
She said she regretted that an increasing number of young people from countries in Europe and North Africa are being attracted by the jihadi call. This has laid bare the need for more cooperation in security but also in culture, economy and politics, she added.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy opened the forum by saying that he believes "the Mediterranean unites us and does not separate us" and that jihadi terror is the biggest threat facing the continent.
Rajoy spoke three days after a Spanish judge jailed seven people arrested in a case involving alleged discussions about targeting a Jewish bookstore in Barcelona. Spain has arrested some 40 suspected jihadi militants and recruiters so far this year.
The meeting brought together some 30 ministers and officials.
Mogherini said the seven-year gap since the last such meeting was too long and proposed staging one annually.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the presence of so many officials showed that countries on both sides of the Mediterranean "shared the same threats" and described the fight against terrorism as "a global war."
Besides terrorism, the ministers also planned to discuss immigration and the situation in Libya and Syria.
Europe has been hit by increasing waves of migration as Syrians and sub-Saharan Africans cross the Mediterranean in flimsy boats in a bid to get to Europe.
Migrants often enter Spain by scaling towering fences in the country's North African enclave of Melilla, surrounded by Morocco and the Mediterranean.
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