Vienna – MARRI Regional Centre Director Sashko Kocev and the Representative of Kosovo* to MARRI RC, Mr. Bilall Bilalli attended the Conference “Security and Migration – Promoting Partnership and Resilience”, organized under the auspices of Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2018. The conference was dedicated to promote cooperation between EU and third countries, where participants had in‑depth discussions on police cooperation, asylum, migration, border management, extremism and terrorism. Aside from Ministers of Interior of EU Member States and Western Balkans, the conference was also attended by representatives of relevant EU agencies and international organisations.
The Austrian Home Affairs Minister Mr. Herbert Kickl who chaired the meetings, in his address stressed that the cooperation with the Western Balkans is one of the most important priorities of the Austrian Presidency of the Council and thanked Western Balkans on assisting Europe in the field of security. With the aim to strengthen the cross border police cooperation with respect to fighting threats to public security, two documents: “Agreement between the Parties to the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe on the Automated Exchange of DNA Data, Dactyloscopic Data and Memorandum Of Understanding On The Automated Exchange Of DNA, Dactyloscopic And Vehicle Registration Data were also signed by Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, on 13 September 2018.
On the sideline of the conference, MARRI delegation had opportunity to meet governmental and representatives of different organizations to exchange information relevant to MARRI mandate and to reaffirm the readiness for future cooperation.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence