Iraq's neighbors pledged on Saturday to boost border security and increase intelligence sharing with the country's newly elected government, AP reported. The neighbors also agreed to hold a meeting of their interior ministers in Turkey in the coming weeks to discuss details of how they could better monitor their borders. «We see that many international terrorist organizations are active in Iraq, and it is necessary to have close cooperation, which we have emphasized here,» Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said at the close of the meeting. In their final communique, the neighbors «expressed their determination to increase their cooperation on the overall border security with Iraq including exchange of intelligence with Iraq with the primary aim of stemming terrorist and other illegal infiltrations to and from Iraq.» The meeting was the eighth conference by the neighbors. At other meetings the neighbors also stressed improving border cooperation, but Saturday's pledge follows the election of a new Iraqi government that has regional legitimacy and marks Syria's establishing relations with Iraq. The neighbors also «pledged to support and cooperate with the newly elected» government and stressed the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq.
