Brussels, 27/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Justice/Home Affairs Troika of the European Union, headed by the Swedish Minister for Development Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Ms Maj-Inger Klingvall, will be in Belgrade and Sarajevo on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 March (see EUROPE of 16 February, p.9). Commissioner Antonio Vitorino and the Belgian Foreign Minister Antoine Duquesne are part of the delegation. Discussions with the FRY and Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities will mainly be on asylum policy, migration and visas, as well as the trafficking of human beings and the return of refugees.
In addition, a meeting on regional migration will be held in Sarajevo on 28 March. It will be attended by Yugoslav, Bosnian, Croat, and Albanian authorities as well as those from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The meeting in Sarajevo follows up the Zagreb Summit held last November.
"Through this Swedish Presidency initiative, we will contribute to the countries in the Western Balkans carrying out national reforms, to strengthening regional cooperation and to establishing closer relations with the EU in the migration policy area. The goal is that all the countries in the Western Balkans should enter into stabilisation and association agreements with the EU, which would contribute to a democratic development in the Balkans. These agreements also cover migration issues", said Ms Klingvall. "The Balkans must become part of the European family, in the migration policy area also", she added.