prijava
ISTANBUL/SARAJEVO, February 20 (FENA) - Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektić is taking part in a two-day ministerial conference of Budapest Process in Istanbul, where the problem of migration is discussed.
Conference gathered representatives of 50 countries from Europe, Middle East and Asia and numerous international organizations. This gathering is important for BiH because it involves many representatives of countries that are source of migrations, but also countries which migrants use as a transition route towards Western Europe and information on number and trends of migrants will be useful for future planning of measures of BiH for better control and management of the process.
Stance of BiH is that this issue requires a unified response on level of the EU and countries of the region, because individual measures of states are not giving expected results.
Speaking about the problem of migrations, Minister Mektić asked the EU and Western Balkan countries to manage the process, stressing that certain countries, especially BiH, cannot be victims of migration. He especially pointed out the problem of human smuggling and organized crime groups taking over the routes and illegally making money that way.
He emphasized that BiH is dealing with additional challenge and problem because it is on the external border of the EU, but it will not allow becoming a hotspot for migrants.
That is why Mektić supported the Action Plan and proposed Istanbul Declaration, which defines future joint cooperation and measures in area of migration.
Mektić will also hold bilateral meetings on ministerial level and with representatives of international organizations during the day, Ministry of Security of BiH stated.
(FENA) A. B.
