VIENNA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the European Union (EU), Russia and the United States discussed ways to strengthen cooperation on matters related to justice and home affairs at the Vienna Ministerial conference on Security Partnership on Thursday.

    The one-day tripartite security dialogue held at Vienna's Hofburg Palace brought together U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini and Russian presidential aide Victor Petrovich Ivanov.

    Austrian Interior Minister Liese Prokop, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, as well as representatives of Finland, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia also attended the meeting.

    "Global threats such as terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking and trafficking in human beings or illegal migration call for global responses," said Liese Prokop, also chairwoman of the meeting.

    She stressed that the three parties defined four key principles and specific themes for future cooperation, which were "the willingness to work together to tackle common threats, the objective of making internal security a priority in external relations between the participating countries, joint preparation of concrete solutions in the fight against terrorism, crime and illegal migration and the mobilization of joint resources to achieve common goals in the field of security."

    "Participants noted the importance of today's meeting which enabled for the first time ministers responsible for home affairs from the EU, the Russian Federation and the United States to have an open exchange of views in relation to security issues," said a declaration released after the joint press conference. Enditem