LUSAKA, Zambia -- High-ranking African police officers and security experts have gathered in Lusaka, Zambia, for the 17th INTERPOL African Regional Conference. Top of the agenda of the three-day meeting are crucial public security and law enforcement problems facing the continent.

The July 23-25 conference brings together 196 delegates from 39 countries who will discuss ways to better support police forces in the region. A senior INTERPOL official will present for discussion a comprehensive threat assessment of crime and terrorist activity in Africa.

The meeting will also focus on ways to improve police information exchange, including the implementation in Africa of a new INTERPOL global communication system known as I-24/7. This is a high-security system using heavily-encrypted Internet connections for large quantities of police data.

It facilitates contacts between INTERPOL's National Central Bureaus and also enables them to access multiple databases containing criminal information.

'As we chart a road map for social and economic development in Africa…we should all bear in mind that there are numerous criminal activities that work against the development plans being instituted,' the President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, told conference delegates in his opening speech.

INTERPOL's Vice-President for Africa, Jackie Selebi, said: 'The conference will produce a program of action, not promises, to ensure that all of us who are police on this continent will work together to combat… all the issues that hamper progress of our people's development.'

Most of the meeting will be closed to the media, but the INTERPOL Press Office will provide highlights of some of the proceedings. Senior police officials may be available for media briefings and interviews if this is requested by media.

For further information, please contact the INTERPOL Press Office in Lyon, France, by fax +33 4 72 44 74 07 or email at press@INTERPOL.int