December 15, 1998
Web posted at: 8:57 p.m. EST (0157 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- To plot new strategies against global terrorism and international crime, top law enforcement officials from the world's wealthiest nations held their first "virtual" meeting Tuesday.

The opening of the long distance conference was conducted via a video link monitored by U.S. reporters, who were standing by in Attorney General Janet Reno's office in Washington. The rest of the scheduled three-hour meeting was to be private, held over secure digital voice links.

The session, chaired from London by British Home Secretary Jack Straw, began with statements on the need for close cooperation to fight terrorists and crime syndicates.

Justice and interior ministers from eight major industrial countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia -- met last year in Washington to discuss the threat posed by organized crime.

On Tuesday, they praised the technologies that allowed them to "meet" while staying home.

They also promised to:

• Use high-tech solutions to combat the sophisticated techniques used by criminal organizations that ignore national boundaries.

• Improve investigation and prosecution of international crime.

• Coordinate the extradition of suspects.

Reno

"We must not allow criminal minds and the pace of technology to outpace our law enforcement efforts," Reno said.

Speaking for the crime-plagued Russian Republic, Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin promised full cooperation.

"In the fight against crime, nothing will disunite us," he said from Moscow.

The so-called G-8 countries "can point to important achievements" over the past year, Straw said.

These include setting up a 24-hour network of law enforcement experts capable of responding quickly to requests for help with investigations that cross international borders, he said.

The conference also dealt with money laundering, smuggling of illegal immigrants, corruption and blocking the funding of terrorism.

The top law enforcement officials plan to meet again -- in person -- late next year in Moscow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.