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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Intensifying regional police cooperation in fighting counterfeit medications

Belgrade/Zagreb, 5 June 2013

State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior Vladimir Bozovic attended the conference "Combating counterfeit medicinal drugs" held in Zagreb and organised by the international research institute for the fight against illegal drugs of the French Embassy in Zagreb and the Croatian Ministry of the Interior.

Bozovic said that the conference dealt with security and health risks of counterfeit drugs.

He said that during 2011, the sale of counterfeit medicines at the global level totalled €60 billion, with the annual sale in Europe exceeding €10.5 billion euros.

The Secretary of State pointed out that one in five Europeans is exposed to the risk of using false drugs, which is more than 77 million people.

These data inevitably point to the need for more intensive cooperation among law enforcement agencies in the region, as well as for cooperation with Interpol so that the fight against this type of crime could be more successful, Bozovic said.

During the conference, Bozovic met with President of Interpol Mireille Ballestrazzi and Director of the Directorate for International Cooperation of the French Ministry of the Interior Emile Peres to discuss cooperation between the Serbian Interior Ministry and Interpol in the fight against new forms of crime, where fake drugs are only one example of the need to strengthen international cooperation among law enforcement bodies.

The Secretary of State held a separate meeting with Croatian Minister of the Interior Ranko Ostojic at which they discussed the promotion of interpolice cooperation against all forms and manifestations of crime, in particular in the fight against organised crime and corruption.

Bozovic and Ostojic also spoke about the upcoming tourist season and hiring Serbian police members on the Croatian coast as part of the project “Safe tourist season”.

Ostojic also conveyed full and unconditional support of the Croatian government to Serbia in the process of obtaining the date for the start of negotiations on EU membership and its willingness to offer Serbia every kind of help and support, reads a statement by the Ministry of the Interior.