Basha participates in Salzburg forum

TIRANA, Aug. 30 – Interior Minister Lulzim Basha took part at the 10th Forum of the European Interior Ministers held in Salzburg, Austria.
Participants from Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia were present at the forum.
The minister got a reconfirmation from his European counterparts that in Fall they will approve for Albania’s Schengen visa free-regime.
Basha said in bilateral contacts with many of them he was assured that in their meetings either in October or November they will get that decision.
The ministry statement said that during the meeting Albania was considered as a success story, an example in the Balkans on the integrated management of the borders and also the issuing of the new documentation (passports and identity cards).
They also supported Tirana’s effort for a Balkan Schengen-style system during its one-year presidency of the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Initiative (MARI).
Basha also urged the European ministers to start the same road map with Kosovo for its visa liberalization.
Participants also broadly discussed how to deepen and consolidate the police cooperation among their countries.