Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Ministerial declaration on border security cooperation in South East Europe for 2009 signed

Belgrade, 6 March 2009

Participants of the 6th ministerial conference border security cooperation in South East Europe today signed a declaration for 2009, emphasising their readiness to fulfil the necessary standards required for EU accession and the Schengen Agreement.

Interior ministers taking part in the conference held in Belgrade stressed that border security is of crucial importance for citizens of their countries, as well as a key condition for full EU membership.

The declaration says that the current progress in South East Europe in this aspect will lead to visa liberalisation and afterwards to full visa abolishment.

They also endorsed setting up a joint coordinating centre to improve cooperation amongst border services.

The document says that one of the goals to be achieved before 2012 is synchronisation with EU legislative standards regulating border security, as well as harmonising border check ups and supervision with the requirements of the Schengen Agreement.

Interior ministers stressed their gratitude to the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), announcing further future cooperation with it.

The sixth ministerial conference concludes tomorrow and the next one will be held in 2010 in Albania.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic told the press conference that border security in the region is a key condition for visa liberalisation and EU integration for all countries in the region.

Police departments in the region must cooperate because border security is of vital importance for the countries’ interior safety and their fight against organised crime.

He voiced hope that by the next ministerial conference visas will have been abolished for travelling around the EU.

DCAF Director Theodor Winkler said that since the previous conference in Montenegro great progress has been made in education, logistics and exchange of data among the border services of countries in the region.

Montenegrin Minister of the Interior Jusuf Kalamperovic stressed there is good cooperation with the Serbian police and other police departments in the region.

Dacic and Kalamperovic announced that talks on dual citizenship between Serbia and Montenegro will resume after the parliamentary elections in Montenegro, scheduled for end-March.

Representatives from the Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnia-Herzegovina interior ministries today signed bilateral protocols on organising joint patrols along their borders, while Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed an agreement on joint border checks at border crossings.

Montenegro and Macedonia signed an agreement on dual citizenship, while police representatives from Serbia and Hungary signed an agreement on cooperation between organs for fighting crime.

Serbia also signed an agreement on long-term strategic partnership with DCAF.