6 August 2013
Yesterday in Brussels the Implementation Group for the Agreement on Integrated Border Management (IBM) between the Republic of Kosovo and of Serbia, held a meeting. The key topic of this meeting was the issue of constructing permanent IBM buildings on all six border crossing points between Kosovo and Serbia, which will be placed precisely on the border line between the two countries. Building these border crossing points is foreseen in the Technical Protocol of the IBM agreement that was signed and approved by the Kosovo Government, as well as by Serbia. Building permanent border crossing points will be done with the financing of the European Commission, which presented different plans to the meeting, as requested by the parties in the last meeting. The European Commission informed them that it plans to conclude the tender and contracting procedure by the end of the year and that by the start of 2014, it will begin to build IBM border crossing points.
Permanent IBM buildings will be built according to the highest EU standards, and will facilitate more advanced border control that will help to ease further the movement of people and goods and to increase security and inter-neighbourly cooperation.
Another point on the agenda of the meeting was reporting on the current situation at the border crossing points between the two countries. It was concluded that the agreement is being implemented satisfactorily and especially, the functioning of communication channels between Serbia and Kosovo border agencies was praised, which has ensured that there have not been long queues despite increased traffic. During this report, our party presented some concerns of our citizens that occurred during their entry into Serbia’s territory from EU countries and the Serb party took on the obligation to verify this information and to find a solution.
The Kosovo delegation at the meeting was comprised of the following: Fisnik Rexhepi, political advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dren Zeka, senior political advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Tahiri, Qemajl Marmullkaj from the Office of Strategic Planning, Naim Huruglica, Director of the Kosovo Customs, Shaban Guda, assistant director for border affairs at the Kosovo Police and Valdet Gjinovci, chief executive of the Veterinary and Food Agency.
Last modified: July 31, 2022