Were signed today by the Minister of Public Order and his counterpart, the Minister of Security of Bosnia-Herzegovina
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ORDER
PRESS OFFICE
Athens, 9/2/2006
PRESS RELEASE
The Minister of Public Order, Mr. George Voulgarakis met today (9/02/06) with his counterpart, the Minister of Security of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr. Barisa COLAK, in the context of his official visit to our country for the Summit of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers from the countries participating in the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (Loutraki, 7 and 8/2/06).
The General Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Leonidas Evaggelidis, the Chief of the Hellenic Police Force, Mr. George Aggelakos as well as other officials from both Ministries attended the meeting.
Moreover, the Minister of Justice of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr. Slobodan KOVAC also attended the meeting.
Issues of bilateral concern were discussed during this meeting in which both countries expressed their will to enhance and enlarge cooperation on the fight against terrorism, drug dealing, illegal immigration and organized crime.
The meeting ended with the signature of a Police Cooperation Agreement between the Public Order Ministry of Greece and the Security Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina; in addition to that a Re-admission Agreement as well as the relative Implementation Protocol were also signed.
The Police Cooperation Agreement sets the legal framework of cooperation between the two countries on issues falling within the field of competence of the Public Order Ministry of Greece and the Security Ministry of Bosnia-Herzegovina, such as:
- Illegal immigration,
- Drug dealing,
- Identity documents counterfeiting,
- Terrorism,
- Organized crime,
- Police staff training,
- Fight against illegal trade of weapons, precious items etc.
The Re-admission Agreement and the respective Implementation Protocol settle the issues related to the re-admission of people illegally residing in the territory of both countries.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Public Order, Mr. George Voulgarakis made the following statement: Continuing along the excellent meeting we had yesterday in Loutraki and the very important results deriving thereof, it is a great joy and honor for me to sign today together with my counterpart, the Security Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina the Police Cooperation Agreement, the Re-admission Agreement and the Implementation Protocol of the latter. These agreements are a token of the serious will expressed by our countries to lay down the legal framework of cooperation on issues falling within the field of competence of our Ministries. These Agreements are the result of cooperation at the experts level and reflect the excellent mood that prevailed until their final draft. They open a new horizon to develop further cooperation and specialization of the excellent police cooperation that already exists to the benefit of our two countries and our region. Therefore, they are merely the point of departure for a series of meetings and initiatives at the strategic, operational and tactical level that will bear – I firmly believe – very fruitful and visible results.
Pictures from the meeting can also be found at the Athens News Agency website. (www.ana.gr).
For more information: Tel: +30 210 6977505
Fax: +30 210 6929764
E-mail: elasgrty@mopo.gr
