TIRANA, June 20 / ATA /- The Albanian Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj, at the invitation of the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship of the European Union, Dimitris Avramopoulos, attended Tuesday a meeting of the European Commission with the Ministers of Interior of the Western Balkans.
During the meeting the main focus of the discussion was, the security, border management and migration.
During his speech, the Albanian Interior Minister Xhafaj stressed that, the regional countries should be unanimous in managing irregular migration flows, each country should take its responsibilities to face common challenges, given the fact that any country’s omission would be a burden on the other one.
The meeting provided the occasion to discuss common challenges and EU-Western Balkans cooperation in the areas of migration, security, border management and visa policy.
In particular, the Ministers of Interior of the Western Balkans addressed the latest developments on increasing irregular migration in some parts of the region and operational measures how to address them.
Furthermore, building on the priorities of the Western Balkan Strategy, they also discussed on-going work in the areas of migration, security, border management and visa policy, also in the context of the upcoming EU-Western Balkans Home Affairs Ministerial taking place on 4-5 October in Tirana.
They also agreed that ensuring effective border management, fighting smuggling, and joint efforts to stem irregular migratory flows and prevent a new migration crisis remain top priorities for both the EU and the Western Balkans.
All Western Balkan partners recognise the importance of further enhancing cooperation, with the support of the EU, in addressing irregular migration risks and commit to continue working together in the coming months to better monitor, register and exchange information on migratory flows, increase cooperation on border management, enforce and step up returns and readmissions, and to increase efforts to dismantle smugglers and organised crime groups.
Follow-up and intensified efforts will continue within the framework of the existing strands of work on the migration routes in the Western Balkans.
The Western Balkan partners also committed to continue joint efforts in addressing the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, preventing violent extremism and radicalisation, and step up the fight against firearms trafficking.
Their cooperation so far has already proven the value of coordinated efforts.
The yesterday’s meeting built on these efforts and confirmed once again the joint commitment of the Western Balkan partners to step up their work and cooperation to address all these challenges together with the EU. //a.i/
