(VIENNA) - Central and eastern European countries will moot their model of police cooperation as well as mixed patrols to EU member states, Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter said on Saturday.

The so-called Salzburg Forum countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, agreed to this after a three-day conference in the Hungarian town of Heviz ended on Saturday.

"The Salzburg Forum countries decided to propose their model of central European police cooperation to the EU," when European Union interior ministers next meet, Fekter said in a statement.

"Joint police cooperation centres between neighbouring EU countries or mixed patrols along internal borders must become a European norm," she added.

The forum's proposal also calls for information exchange on organised crime and illegal immigration, "which our police officers urgently need for their day-to-day work," Fekter noted.

The eight members of the forum also agreed to work together to fight crime among youths and prepare for the introduction in 2012 of new biometric visa checks for third-country nationals.

"Securing our external borders by installing new technology, boosting the fight against illegal immigration and most of all, ensuring the integration of people who already live in our countries legally is most important," she said.

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