The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sefik Dzaferovic, began his two-day visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Bilateral relations between the two friendly countries were discussed at the meeting, and it was stated that relations between the countries could be significantly improved, and the interlocutors agreed that there was not enough communication, but that cooperation could be improved at the economic level.
Dzaferovic thanked Qureshi for the assistance Pakistan provided to BiH during the war, when it was most difficult, sending troops to BiH to operate within UNPROFOR and then within SFOR, contributing to stabilizing the established peace.
After the meeting with the Minister, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Kahn organized a solemn welcome with the highest state honors, followed by a tete-a-tete meeting between Dzaferovic and Kahn, as well as a meeting of the delegations of the two countries.
Afterwards, BiH Security Minister Selmo Cikotic and Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Science and Technology, and Cikotic signed a Readmission Agreement and an accompanying Protocol with Pakistani Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah.
By concluding this agreement, BiH and Pakistan reaffirm their readiness to engage in international actions to prevent illegal migration, as the Agreement regulates the reception of their own nationals, third-country nationals and stateless persons residing in the territory of a Contracting Party contrary to their laws.
This is an important agreement for BiH, which in recent years has become a very interesting country for illegal migration along the “Balkan route” in the chain of countries through which the process of smuggling people, drugs, vehicles and other forms of organized crime takes place.
According to the established draft protocol, the competent authorities for receiving, submitting and processing readmission requests, as well as those for transit, are the Ministry of Security for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Interior for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Readmission and reception of citizens of the two countries and the transit of foreigners will take place through the international airports in Sarajevo and Islamabad. During his two-day visit to Islamabad, Dzaferovic will also meet with the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, and the Speaker of the Parliament, Assad Qaiser.
