Regional coast guard commanders from both Greece and Turkey met on Thursday in the coastal resort city of Kusadasi, on the western Asia Minor coast, for talks aimed at continuing high-level cooperation between both sides, especially in the field of combating illegal migration and the activity of migrant smuggling networks.

Human trafficking based in western Turkey and targeting Greece’s numerous islands in the eastern Aegean peaked in 2015, with more than a million third country nationals –many fleeing Mideast warzones – making it onto Greek territory in an irregular manner in order to reach destinations in central and western Europe.

A similar meeting took place on the eastern Aegean Island of Chios (Hios) last November, with stepped up cooperation by the two countries’ coast guard and harbor corps deemed as significant in reducing the flow of irregular migrants and criminal gangs since then.

Coast guard commanders and harbor masters from the wider Aegean region participated in the meeting, along with high-ranking Turkish officers based in Ankara.