Bucharest, Romania – The 18th meeting of the PCC SEE statutory body - the Expert Working Group (EWG) composed of nominated national representatives of the PCC SEE Contracting Parties - took place on 22 and 23 June 2017, under the auspices of the Romanian PCC SEE Chairmanship-in-Office and in coorganisation with the PCC SEE Secretariat.  The EWG members reviewed the state of play and development of action plans for the five PCC SEE core clusters - data protection, information exchange, operational cooperation, countering terrorism and automated exchange of data -  and defined the next steps towards the signing of an implementing agreement on data protection. They agreed on the agenda for the upcoming 17th meeting of the PCC SEE Committee of Ministers, to be convened on 7 September 2017 in Slovenia, where the main topic will be devoted to the next steps in establishing an EU Prüm-inspired framework for automated exchange of data. The EWG members were also familiarised with the most recent developments of the Integrative Internal Security Governance (IISG) in the Western Balkans.