The meeting on Integrated Border Management

Brussels, 16-17 November 2016

Between 16 -17 November 2016, Kosovo and Serbia met in Brussels to discuss about the implementation of IBM agreement.

At this tripartite meeting, the main issue was reporting on the progress as for the implementation of the agreement on the permanent border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia.

Accordingly, UNOPS reported that the Kosovo side has fulfilled all obligations relating to the expropriation of land where they are to build these IBM permanent crossing points, designing projects and facilitating procedures for issuing permits. As for Serbia, UNOPS reported on the limited progress on the implementation of this project; the process of expropriation of plots had not began and no concrete actions were undertaken.

In this meeting both sides reported on the dynamics on the construction of new border crossing points between the two countries, Sfirca Kapi and Izvor. EU on the other hand had positively assessed the cooperation between institutions of both countries in the context of IBM and agreed to advance the implementation of the project SEED.

As for the Kosovo delegation on this meeting, Minister Edita Tahiri was accompanied by Dren Zeka, coordinator of the issue; Qemajl Marmullakaj from the Office of Strategic Planning; Arben Çitaku from the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning; Shaban Guda from the Kosovo Police; Fahri Gashi and Bekim Mehmetaj from Kosovo Customs; Valdet Gjinovci from the Food and Veterinary Agency; Arber Gegaj from the Ministry of Justice; Isuf Cikaqi from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development; and Haxhi Bajraktari from the Kosovo Embassy in Brussels.