Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic and his North Macedonian counterpart Oliver Spasovski on Tuesday visited a North Macedonian-Greek border crossing where 11 Croatian police officers are assisting their North Macedonian colleagues.
The main duty that Croatian police officers are tasked with in the area is helping prevent illegal crossings of the border from Greece into Macedonia, as the area is located on the so-called Balkan route.
Croatian police stationed at the Bogorodica border crossing told Bozinovic that the joint patrols in which they regularly take part with local border police were successful in apprehending the majority of all migrant smugglers arrested on the Balkan route.
Spasovski told reporters he was grateful to Croatia’s Interior Ministry for their assistance, and thanked Croatia for being the first country which responded to the influx of illegal migrants passing through the country on their way to Western Europe by sending its police to assist local law enforcement.
“This is a model example of how we should work together to solve global problems,” Spasovski said.
Bozinovic said he was pleased to hear positive remarks coming from Croatia’s international partners and friends, adding that this served as a good example of how countries can deal with trans-national problems.
“No country alone can solve issues which are cross-border in nature, from terrorism to organised crime, and… increasingly, illegal migration. Croatian police are not only protecting the Croatian border, but 11 of them are here, sharing their experience from dealing with the migrant crisis in Croatia with their colleagues here in North Macedonia,” Bozinovic said.
He said that it is essential for police forces to share their experience in dealing with the crisis, in order to always stay ahead of smugglers bringing people across the border illegally. Bozinovic added that last year North Macedonia prevented some 16,900 illegal migrants from crossing the border from Greece.
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