ZAGREB, May 31, 2018 - Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović met with his Montenegrin counterpart Mevludin Nuhodžić on Wednesday, and in a joint statement they underscored the very good cooperation between their respective ministries and police forces on a daily operational basis.
Nuhodžić thanked the Croatian government for its assistance regarding his country's Euro-Atlantic integration and said that it was undertaking the necessary reforms in order to become the regional leader on the pathway to the European Union. "Cooperation between the interior ministries and police in Montenegro and Croatia is at an enviable level. Daily operational cooperation between border and crime police has resulted in arrests of Croatian and Montenegrin citizens in many operations related to drug trafficking," Nuhodžić said.
Nuhodžić highlighted the current problem of global threats like extreme radicalism, illegal migration, human trafficking and smuggling. "We have agreed that we need to continue and intensify our cooperation at the operational and strategic levels because new challenges are emerging every day and we have to respond adequately," the Montenegrin interior minister said.
He concluded by saying that special attention was being dedicated to illegal migration and that he believed that efforts would continue to be made to resolve that issue with the good cooperation between the two border police forces.
Božinović recalled the Cooperation Agreement signed in 2012 which resulted in several efficient joint campaigns, including those related to Safe Tourism Seasons which provides for six police officers from both countries to be deployed in the other country from 15 June to 15 September in order to facilitate communication with their citizens.
"We are supporting Montenegro on its European pathway, just as we did with its accession to NATO," Božinović said. He added that migration is a "global challenge that the entire European Union and Southeast Europe are currently preoccupied with and recalled that this year the number of migrants coming from Turkey to Greece has increased which has further burdened its capacities and so some migrants have started coming via the Balkan route.
He underscored that Austria's priority during its chairmanship of the Council of the European Union from July 1 will be to protect the EU external borders, "which is confirmation of Croatia's diplomatic efforts in pointing out the fact that the Union needs to strengthen its external borders."
"In the new enlargement strategy, one of the priorities that the European Union defined is the issue of migration. We are prepared to help Montenegro to satisfy those criteria because by helping Montenegro and Albania, we are helping the European Union and Croatia. The package of measures for enlargement expects candidates to strengthen their border police capacities, to conclude the Frontex agreement, to align with the EU's legal acquis with reference to migration, asylum and visa regimes, to strengthen capacities and the consistent implementation of the agreement on readmission," Božinović concluded.
