Interior Minister Carmen Dan on Friday met Austrian ambassador in Bucharest Gerhard Reiweger, who reasserted Austria’s support for Romania joining the border-free Schengen Area of the EU.

“At the meeting, the excellent cooperation between the two interior ministries, particularly in policing, border and migration control, was emphasised, along with the ensuing significant results in the fight against crime,” Romania’s Interior Ministry (MAI) reported on Friday.

Dan pointed to joint operative cooperation conducted by Romanian and Austrian police officers with support from the attaches of internal affairs accredited in Bucharest and Vienna.

The minister and the ambassador also discussed priorities of European affairs, voicing openness to deepening cooperation in the first half of 2018, when Austria holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the first half of 2019, when Romania holds it.

“About the Salzburg Forum, the officials praised the usefulness and importance of debates at the level of this platform for consultations and political dialogue that work out joint stands that are later on advanced at the European Union’s level,” said MAI.