Sarajevo – MARRI RC Director Sasko Kocev attended the regional event “Municipal response to migration movements and emergency situations”, organized by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The objective of the event was to bring together lessons learnt in municipalities from Serbia and Macedonia and transferring these experiences and practices to a wider regional context, in order to support the preparation and management of possible future emergency situations.

On the high-level conference which was part of the two-day event, Director Kocev addressed the participants emphasizing that MARRI is aware of the role that the local communities have in dealing with the challenges of the increased migration flows and stressed that strengthening the capacities of central and local governments in migration management is bare necessity. Since the Western Balkans are on the route of these migration flows, regional crisis management is very much required and national migration management policies must consider the needs and capacities of local authorities.

Director Kocev reiterated that MARRI remains open to serve, within its mandate, as platform for dialogue and to provide institutional support from all six governments in addressing these issues. As concluding remarks, he expressed confidence that the joint efforts will result in identifying the common challenges and will provide concrete recommendations for future steps to be taken.

19 September 2018 – Regional event on municipal response to migration movements and emergency situations