Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Davide La Cecilia have discussed at a meeting on Wednesday the prospects of the Ukrainian-Italian cooperation in the sphere of security and public order, as well as the possibility of more active involvement of Italy in supporting the reform of the civil security sector of Ukraine.

As the liaison department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine reported, Avakov told the ambassador about the reforms and said that the priority for Ukraine's interest is the use of positive methods of law enforcement systems of the EU countries. "Despite the difficulties, we are full of determination to continue performing willful sequential steps for carrying out large-scale and comprehensive reforms, in particular, rearranging the system of national law enforcement agencies with the support and experience of our European partners," the minister said.

In turn, Davide La Cecilia highly praised the steps of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in the context of fulfillment the criteria for abolition a visa regime with Ukraine by the European Union and arrangements within the Association Agreement, assuring that during its presidency in the G-7 Italy will support Kyiv in the reforms. According to him, around 50 joint activities are planned to be held during 2017 related to cooperation in the sphere of security and public order.

The sides spoke in favor of the need for increased cooperation between law enforcement bodies of Ukraine and Italy in order to guarantee security in Europe and combating cross-border crime and international terrorism.