The Republic of Srpska

Today, at the opening of the General Assembly of the Southeast Europe Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA) in Belgrade, Serbia, the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Ivica Dačić, said that the criminals in every country in the region must not be invisible or feel as if they were in a ‘safe house’, and that for that reason, the cooperation of police agencies of regional countries had to be more intense. He invited the directors of police agencies in the region attending the Conference, one of them being the Republic of Srpska Police Director, Mr Siniša Kostrešević, to meet more often and exchange experience. Minister Dačić pointed out that they had good cooperation with the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior, but that they also wished to cooperate with other police structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Minister Dačić thanked everybody who supported the initiative of Serbia for the Interpol Regional Bureau to be situated in Belgrade. He expressed his hopes that they would soon start the realisation of the initiative, and that the opening of the Bureau would be a historic step for the whole region. The Republic of Srpska Police Director, Mr Kostrešević, said that Serbia and the Republic of Srpska had always had excellent cooperation and that in some moments they functioned as if they were ‘one Ministry’. He said that the opening of the Interpol Regional Bureau in Belgrade would be very significant especially since there are only six such bureaus in the world, and that a country such as China had none. ‘This is very significant because of the language area, speed, regional concept the whole security system’, he said. The President of the Interpol, Mr Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, said that Serbia was a reliable partner the Interpol could count on. ‘Serbia has been a key strategic partner for two decades now, so we are looking forward to further cooperation and improvement of relations’, he said.