The Republic of Srpska

Ministers of the Interior of both the Republic of Srpska and the Republic of Serbia, Mr Dragan Lukač and Mr Nebojša Stefanović, announced today that a joint exercise of special units and support units was going to be held with the aim of strengthening their cooperation and capacities in the field of fighting against terrorism. At the meeting that was held in Banja Luka, they discussed the cooperation between the two Ministries, especially regarding terrorism, a subject that is topical in the whole Europe and the world. ‘Since our Ministries have to work on this issue together, we are improving this cooperation by connecting our units so they can jointly respond to threats in the border areas or either Serbia or BIH’, Minister Lukač said. He also expressed his hope that, on the territory of BIH, there would be no situations such as those that had happened in Kumanovo, Macedonia. According to Minister Lukač, the Republic of Srpska MoI has to be ready to respond to every challenge related to terrorism. ‘We have excellent cooperation with the Serbian MoI, and it is necessary to improve it further with the aim of adequate joint response to the possible sources threatening safety’, Mr Lukač explained. He added that the issue of migration was also discussed and said that the immigrants remained on the territory of Serbia and that the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina had not had serious problems related to this issue, despite numerous announcements, especially the previous year. Minister Lukač pointed out that Serbia managed the issue very well, and that it was commendable how Serbia and its Ministry of the Interior handled this great problem and pressure that was still ongoing. Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Nebojša Stefanović, said that the aim of joint exercise was to show the level of training and readiness to act in complex situations and tasks of preventing terrorist acts and neutralising potential terrorists that might perform those actions. He added that, in the exercise, Serbia would engage special units: Special Anti-Terrorist Unit, Gendarmerie and all other police units necessary to demonstrate the level of training and readiness. ‘I hope that we will be able to train the performance of these tasks well by then, because this is not just a demonstration exercise – it might also be a real