The four-day General Assembly meeting, being held in St. Petersburg, began Tuesday with calls for countries to build on police capacity and further international cooperation on policing efforts to counter terrorist organizations and transnational criminal threats, Interpol reported.

Interpol's 77th General Assembly meeting, with representatives from 153 countries, is an effort to gather top security authorities from around the world to discuss strengthening the investigative and operational capacities of police forces, among other initiatives.

Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, addressed the opening of the General Assembly and called on participants to work together to counter ongoing threats facing nations around the world.

"Russia has always urged the international community to join forces in fighting crime, because only by working together will we tackle crime," Putin said in a statement.

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