Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily said Friday he felt there was a growing consensus between European Union members on the need for Europe and Africa to take a coordinated approach on immigration policy, dpa reported. At a meeting of E.U. interior ministers in the northern English city of Newcastle upon Tyne, Schily again called for the creation of immigration processing centres in North Africa - a proposal he put to his E.U. counterparts at last year's meeting. The 25 ministers discussed greater coordination with African countries on immigration and asylum issues and the possibility of using development aid to control illegal migration to the E.U., including programmes to protect refugees in their countries of origin. Afghanistan's drug trade was also on the agenda at Friday's meeting. Some 95 per cent of heroin sold in Europe is said to come from the mountainous Hindu Kush region, according to E.U. reports. Luxembourg's Justice Minister Luc Frieden called for "drastic measures" to destroy poppy fields and for a stronger European military presence in Afghanistan to eradicate drug production. --SP 1515 Local Time 1215 GMT
