Representatives of participating countries at the Forum for Regional Initiative for Migration, Asylum and Refugees (MARRI), whose host is the Ministry of Security BiH, met today in Sarajevo, where they discussed the various aspects of regional cooperation with a focus on the issues of migration and asylum.
Delegations from 6 countries in the region, members of MARRI (Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and BiH), representatives of the International Organizaiton for Migration (IOM), EU Delegation in BiH, Council of Europe and other international organizations will attend the forum, which is held at the BiH Presidency under the MARRI initiative.
In an address to participants at the opening of the meeting, BiH Minister of Security Fahrudin Radončić said that the MARRI Forum is an opportunity to summarize the results from the domain of migration and asylum, focusing on the results that BiH has made in this regard.
‘’In the period of taking over the Presidency of MARRI, BiH’s initiative in the area of migration and asylum has done a lot for the regulation of migration and asylum and their harmonization with the acquis of the EU’’, said Radončić. He also recalled that at the same time an instrument for reporting EU standards was created.
In the context of improving the legal framework and the creation of strategic documents, the BiH Minister of Security said that in BiH in the meantime made amendments to the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens, and the migration profile in BiH for 2012 is made. A strategy was adopted in the area of migration and asylum, an action plan for the period 2012-2015, and the establishment of a coordinating body to deal with issues of migration in BiH.
In addition, work on the construction of an asylum center is finished, and the process of training key personnel in the sector of migration and asylum is ongoing.
‘’The achievements in the past year gives me the right to confirm that BiH, like all other members of MARRI Initiatives are the best example how European standards have their place in our security system. MARRI Initiative and its possibilities are instruments of help, by which the exchange of best experiences and practices, as well as the attainment of European standards, provide our citizens and the region with faster and more efficient path to our end goal, which is full EU membership’’, said Minister Radončić, among other things in his welcome speech to participants at the MARRI Forum.
