Prishtina, April 30, 2013
Under the leadership of the Deputy Prime Minister who is also the leader of the technical dialogue, Ms. Edita Tahiri, the delegation of the Republic of Kosovo and the team of experts participated in the regular meeting of the Implementation Team for the Agreement on Integrated Border Management (IBM), mediated by European Union in Brussels. The agenda of this meeting was to assess the implementation of the agreement on the Integrated Border Management and the further preparations for the implementation of the action plans for this agreement as well as discussion on issues related to the freedom of movement.
This meeting assessed the progress of the practical implementation of the Technical Protocol and following through the deadlines by all three parties. After the joint assertion that marking of border-crossing points of the state border between Kosovo and Serbia was completed successfully, the next stage will be to focus on designing and constructing the IBM facilities according to best European practices.
It was also agreed that as of May 1, 2013, the agreement on the freedom of movement will also be fully implemented at the two border crossing points between the Republic of Kosovo and that of Serbia, namely in Muçibabë and Mutivodë. Deputy Prime Minister Tahiri stressed the significance of this opportunity for the citizens of Presheva valley in providing facilitations to them by enabling them to cross the border only with ID cards taking into account that they frequently travel through these two border-crossing points due to their close family and economic ties with Kosovo. She also reiterated the request that the problem of high border car insurance fees be resolved with urgency and asked for the EU maximum engagement on this matter.
With regard to IBM agreement, Deputy Prime Minister Tahiri stated that so far the implementation has been good and that she hopes that this positivity will continue with the construction of permanent border crossing points. In these frames, European Union, through its contractor, presented the design blueprints for the two permanent border-crossing points in Merdare and Jarinj whereas the other border crossing points will be presented in the following meetings.
This meeting also discussed other practices of cross-border cooperation between the two countries such as exchange of information for custom affairs, phyto-sanitary affairs, etc., and an accord was reached to follow EU standards and directives that regulate such matters.
In this meeting Deputy Prime Minister Tahiri was accompanies by Dren Zeka, political adviser to DPM Tahiri, Fisnik Rexhepi, political adviser to Minister Rexhepi and the coordinator of the IBM implementation group, Qemajl Marmullakaj from ZPS/PMO, Naim Huruglica, Director of Kosovo Customs, Shaban Gruda, Deputy Director of Kosovo Police, Valdet Gjinovci – Chief Executive Officer of Kosovo Veterinary and Food Agency, and Murat Meha, Chief Executive Office of Kosovo Cadastral Agency.
Last modified: July 31, 2022