The geographic position of Moldova holds interest for smugglers and counterfeiters and the national and international efforts should be joined to combat such offenses. Related statements were made in a regional workshop, Info-Prim Neo reports. Simone Di Meo, officer of the Interpol Intellectual Property Crimes Unit, said that Europe is ready to help the CIS specialists to combat counterfeiting and protect the intellectual property. The CIS states are like a shield between the East and the West, which should offer resistance to the criminal groups dealing with counterfeiting and smuggling. “The Interpol recommends the Moldovan law enforcement bodies to use all the legal instruments available to combat counterfeiting and smuggling and to cooperate with other states,” said Simone Di Meo. According to him, the international cooperation of the law enforcement bodies through the Interpol is very important. Interpol division head Vitali Savin said that the workshop involved representatives of all the law enforcement bodies – the police, the customs services and the border guard services – of Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova. In the future, joint measures will be taken to fight counterfeiting, which will have a positive effect on the consumers. The regional workshop was organized by the Ministry of the Interior and the European Commission within the TAIEX Project.