Without Macedonia’s efforts Hungary would be in a much more difficult situation regarding the protection of its southern borders, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér stated after he signed an agreement on police cooperation between the two states with his Macedonian counterpart.
Thanking the Balkans country for its efforts, he said that, in addition to joint action against organised crime, the agreement also seeks to prevent illegal immigration in the summer, at the time of increased tourist and guest worker traffic on the roads.
Mr Pintér observed that, in addition to the fight against organised crime, the agreement “will also permit further data exchanges” which “will guarantee cooperation in the field of sharing forensic information”.
In answer to a question, the Hungarian Minister pointed out that the government is “clearly committed” to supporting the countries lying on the Balkans migration route in the protection of their borders, but in order to continue these efforts, including the extension of the mandate of the police contingent in Macedonia, “we need to win the elections on 8 April”.
Speaking highly of the cooperation of the two countries and their ministries, Macedonian Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski thanked Hungarian forces for taking part in the protection of the Macedonian-Greek border.
He added that they are cooperating with their Hungarian partners in several areas in order to benefit from their experiences during the course of their European Union and NATO accession talks.
The Macedonian Minister highlighted that so far 641 Hungarian uniformed officers have taken part in this mission in 23 teams, observing that the agreement just signed concerns issues of joint police action against organised crime, including drug, human and arms dealing and arms trafficking.
These are global challenges which call for global answers, Oliver Spasovski stated at the press conference, further pointing out that at their meeting they also discussed the possibility of cooperation between internal investigation agencies as corruption is one of the gravest problems in his country today.