site.btaSerbia Offers Bulgaria Help for Border Protection

Serbia Offers Bulgaria Help for Border Protection

Sofia, August 7 (BTA) - "We intend to help our Bulgarian colleagues by sending Serbian forces to the critical points on Bulgaria's southern border, which will ease our own situation," Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told journalists at the border between the two countries on Sunday. Bulgarian Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova and her Serbian counterpart toured the border-crossing checkpoints of Kalotina (Bulgaria) and Gradina (Serbia).

Stefanovic said that the two countries should work for an increase of the joint details to patrol the border on both sides. He expects the two countries to boost their cooperation in combating human traffickers.

Buchvarova said she was grateful for any help offered by the neighbours and pointed out that the situation along Bulgaria's borders is "volatile". "We must establish together an order that will send important messages to the traffickers, and namely that using the Balkan route is not easy and is undesirable," the Bulgarian Interior Minister noted.

She has approached Frontex with a request for 200 officers to reinforce Bulgarian border protection. "Poland has assured us that they will send 60 people, we will determine whether they will be part of those 200," Buchvarova specified. In her words, they will be stationed at Bulgaria's border with Turkey and Serbia.

The Bulgarian Interior Minister expects Turkey to take the necessary measures so as to prevent a mounting of the migrant pressure from its side of the border. "We have received assurances that this will be done," Buchvarova said. "The share of unregistered migrants attempting to leave Bulgaria is tending down," she added.