Croatian and Serbian Ministers of the Interior Tomislav Karamarko and Ivica Dacic have announced the establishment of a regional centre for the fight against organised crime as a new form of cooperation between the police forces of the two countries in a clampdown on organised crime.
After holding a closed-door meeting in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek on Friday, Karamarko told a news conference that organised crime does not recognise borders, religion or nationality but only profit.
The aim of the project, which should be implemented in the next few months, is to be a step ahead of organised criminal groups in the region, Karamarko said.
He said that the establishment of the centre would represent headway in cooperation between the two countries' police forces.
According to him, it was agreed that the project should be independent of political developments and developments in relations between the two countries.
Minister Dacic commended cooperation with Croatia's Ministry of the Interior.
He said the centre should serve as a place for collection and processing of police and intelligence data as well as for monitoring organised criminal gangs.
Dacic went on to say that working groups should prepare a legal framework for the establishment and financing of the centre.
The project is open to other countries in the region, said Dacic.
The bilateral police cooperation agreement, signed by the two countries last year, went into force today.
