Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia have officially signed the Agreement on Cooperation aimed at strengthening of the system of legal migration flows management and monitoring.
The Agreement on Cooperation was signed by Aleksandar Nikolic State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior and Veljko Odalovic Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The document represents an important step towards solid structures for monitoring and management of legal migration. Goal of the Agreement is professional training of consular officers and consuls on the subject of legal migration, which will significantly improve relations regarding issuing of visas and consequently formalise cooperation between the two institutions.
Th Agreement is one of the most important achievements of the the twinning project “Further development and implementation of mechanisms for a comprehensive and consistent monitoring of legal migration in the Republic of Serbia,” worth EUR1 million and funded by the European Union out of its IPA funds. The Project is implemented by consortium of the Netherlands, Austria and Slovenia.
Official signature ceremony was attended by Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Oskar Benedikt who said “we are happy to see the two institutions in Serbia coming closer together which in future would establish even closer cooperation regarding efficient monitoring and legal migration. This means good coordination as well, data and strategic information exchange, and joint decision making on the subject of visa procedures and monitoring of legal migration. We welcome this outcome.”
Project leader Bert van Horn said the Agreement was “the work of people for the people.” General goal of the project is to strengthen present capacity of Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in view of legal migration management through the implementation of clearly defined policy, coordination of procedures and alignment with EU acquis.
Aleksandar Nikolic said he was happy with the project and added he wished to “thank the EU once again for its support” and ”the Project was yet another way of building capacity of the Ministry of Interior though European Commission support. Participation in the project reflects the fact that Serbia is a reliable partner in the process of European integration, especially from the aspect of Chapter 24, which foresees further cooperation in the area of migration, in particular.”
Veljko Odalovic said Serbia’s strategic goal was membership in the EU and added Serbia was aware of the complexity of the process. “Ministry of Foreign Affairs will, together colleagues at the Ministry of Interior, strive to apply European standards in the area of legal migration, through concrete training activities and practical application in diplomatic and consular missions,” Odalovic said.
The Project is focused on relation between border control, visa issuing and residence permits, a well as the return of foreign national who are residing illegally in Serbia. Also, it focuses on efficient coordination among institutions in charge of policy making at the central level, as well as those on operational/executive levels.
