Washington and Berlin will conduct more efficient sharing of security information to help foil terrorist attacks, US Secretary for Homeland Security Tom Ridge said Friday.

"More and greater information sharing, hopefully not just the United States and Germany, but the rest of the world, will be able to detect terrorists and terrorist plots and prevent that," said Ridge after meeting with German Interior Minister Otto Schily.

"Both of us believe that it's the crux to share information," Ridge told reporters.

A German-US working group was considering matters important to both countries and that whole process between the two countries has been accelerated, he continued.

Schily said he hoped that there could be information sharing in relation to the trial of a Moroccan man suspected of conspiracy in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Mounir El Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 for involvement in the plot of the terrorist attacks but was later granted a new trial because US justice authorities declined to allow al-Qaeda suspects in its custody to testify.

Source: Xinhua