Spasovski – Klarenbeek: Promoting cooperation in fight against illegal migration is common interest
Skopje, 15 November 2022 (MIA) – Promoting bilateral, multilateral, as well as operational police cooperation is an interest of the Ministry of Interior, said Minister Oliver Spasovski at Tuesday’s working meeting with the Netherlands Special Envoy for Migration, Ambassador Joost Klarenbeek.
“I must stress that relations between the ministries are characterized by a high degree of friendship and understanding. The cooperation between the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Ministry of Justice and Security of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is taking place at a good level,” Spasovski said during the meeting with Klarenbeek, who is taking part in the Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Migration Governance in the Western Balkans, held in Skopje on Tuesday and Wednesday. Interlocutors agreed on more activities in the promotion of bilateral cooperation in the areas of combating extremism and terrorism, combating drug trafficking, new psychotropic substances and precursors, forensics, computer crime, corruption, cross-border cooperation and training, exchange of expertise and support, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release. “In terms of the central theme of the conference, dealing with illegal migration, Minister Spasovski stressed to his Dutch colleague that the Frontex agreement was signed on October 26, 2022, although the Republic of North Macedonia was one of the first countries in the region to initial the agreement. In addition, Minister Spasovski briefed him on migration flows, as well as the situation on the southern border. Regarding numbers on illegal migration, Minister Spasovski highlighted the upward trend by 29.2 percent in attempts for illegal crossings with 20,547 attempts prevented, most of them in the period July-September 2022,” reads the press release. Klarenbeek thanked for the opportunity to meet and participate in the conference, congratulating Spasovski on the signing of the Frontex agreement and wishing its successful implementation. “As regards migration management as an important element in international cooperation, Ambassador Klarenbeek pointed out that the Netherlands is working, together with the ICMPD, on the development of a platform for the return of illegal migrants to their countries of origin, which is conceived as an opportunity to exchange operational experience and knowledge between experts from the EU and the region - on which Ambassador Klarenbeek asked for support for the proposed initiative and received it from Minister Spasovski,” the press release adds. In addition, Spasovski and Klarenbeek agreed that the implementation of important activities in the field of international cooperation in the fight against crime is of great importance for the preservation of the security of the two countries, as well as the security of the citizens, given that international police cooperation is taking an increasingly important role in the sphere of international cooperation for the prevention of crime.
