(NOUAKCHOTT) - The fight against terrorism will be among chief issues on the table when 10 interior ministers from Mediterranean countries meet on Thursday in Mauritania, the country's government said Monday.

The 13th meeting of interior ministers from the North African and European countries (CIMO) will begin Wednesday, when expert meetings are scheduled.

The ministers will also discuss organised crime and clandestine immigration, an official from Mauritania's ministry for the interior told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At the previous CIMO, in 2006 in the southern French city of Nice, the ministers resolved to further combine resources in the struggle against illegal migration.

CIMO combines two country groups: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, as well as Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Portugal from the European Union.

Prior to this conference, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba on Tuesday will begin his own African tour focussing on the issues of immigration and the fight against terrorism.

The tour will take him through Mali, Senegal and Mauritania, the ministry said Monday.

Among other dignitaries, Rubalcaba will on Tuesday meet with Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure in Bamako and on Wednesday with Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade.

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