Brussels, 08/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday 7 February, Eurojust, the European agency charged with improving judicial cooperation among member states, and the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) signed a memorandum of understanding increasing cooperation between the two organisations. “The signing of the memorandum of understanding with the EJTN is an important step.… Judicial training is an essential part of building a common judicial area in Europe,” said President of the College of Eurojust José Luís Lopes da Mota in a press release. The purpose of this memorandum of understanding is to establish and regulate co-operation between Eurojust and the EJTN in the field of judicial training. It enables secondments to Eurojust of practising judges and prosecutors, as well as trainee judges and prosecutors, from the member states in order to familiarise them with Eurojust's tasks, functioning and activities, the press release says. The parties may also consider undertaking other forms of co-operation relating to judicial training. The importance of incorporating a European component in national training programmes was highlighted in the Hague Programme on strengthening freedom, security and justice in the European Union. (B.C.)