Ladies and Gentlemen,

Officers of the Intelligence and Security Services of the Club of Berne,
before I say good bye to you, I wish to express my sincere appreciation for the hard work you have done, fully committing yourselves during this First International Seminar on Organised Crime.
Lectures, round tables, work groups, debates and exchanges of views have encouraged you to deal with problem areas essential to the security of our States in a common effort to increase our potentials to fight organised crime effectively.
For sure we may say that this Seminar has represented a precious occasion to underline the gravity of this criminal phenomenon.
Your contributions have focused on the need for constant co-operation among Services and for harmonisation and integrattion of laws and regulations in order to define the role of Intelligence Services and increase their efficiency in the fight against organised crime.
This means that Governments intend to take advantage of all opportunities and are determined to use every possible means to achieve this goal.
Last but not least, this commitment will also contribute to eliminate the impression sometimes present in the public opinion that there is not sufficient awareness in the effort to tackle organised crime. Thus citizens' confidence in the State will be enhanced, together with the will to co-operate and with the trust in Law Enforcement Agencies.
Setting up an apparatus for the protection of the democratic institutions, accompanied by a wide involvement of public opinion represent an appropriate reaction vis a vis the fierce challenge posed by organised crime.
I firmly believe that in these days it has been proven that Intelligence Services may enhance the knowledge of Governments, so as to enable them to make the right political choices. The Intelligence Community can and must contribute to the investigations carried out by the Police Forces with the guidance of Investigating Magistrates.
The extent of the threat posed by organise crime varies in the different countries, but Italy has experienced and is still experiencing the tragedy of this monster and it feels it as a moral duty to underline the contagious nature of the phenomenon and the possibility of its appearing, if not already present, in the territory of the other States.
Lectures in this Seminar have offered a tremendous amount of food for thought.
SISDe has tried to provide you, Ladies and Gentlemen, with a picture as clear as possible of the state of the art in this field inviting top Italian experts selected among eminent Magistrates, University Professors, Police officers and Intelligence operators, all of them fully committed and highly motivated.
I am confident that we all have done a good, a very good job, and that your awareness of the threat posed by organised crime against State Security has increased.
This is the best start in the battle against this criminal challenge.
The Chairman has pointed out to me the high quality of your contributions during work groups and these contributions have surely represented the focal point of this meeting.
I am pleased that young officers - and the presence of motivated young professionals is an encouraging fact for the future of Intelligence Communities - have worked together with maturer colleagues to elaborate and assess what was presented in the morning sessions. There is one key concept that should be stressed by all of you, and that is the need for co-operation among Services, co-operation aimed at enhancing confidence in Intelligence and Police Forces' activities in the fight against organised crime.
I want to take advantage of this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Directors of your Services for allowing you to participate in this Seminar. Thus they have contributed to the realisation of this common project, so important at this point of our present history.
I would like to thank for their precious participation Magistrates Siclari, Caselli, Vigna, Grasso, D'Ambrosio, Sciacchitano, Prefetto De Gennaro, Professors Marconi, Gobbo and Corneli, officers of all ranks of the Police, the Carabinieri, the Guardia di Finanza, the DIA, Europol, SISMi and SISDe.
Their contribution has determined the positive results of this Seminar.
Especially, I wish to thank the Director of the Swiss Service and I wish to thank each one of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your constructive attitude and high professionality.