Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 08:00
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic met today in Canberra with Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen to discuss the possibilities of introducing visa relaxations for Serbian nationals. Dacic said that agreement was reached to begin talks that may lead to the introduction of procedural facilitations for issuing Australian visas to Serbian nationals and extending their validity period.
He recalled that after 2000, Serbia abolished visas for Australian nationals, adding that in this respect, Australia is adhering to the policy according to which everyone, except for the Queen of England and New Zealanders, must have visas in order to enter the country.
Dacic and Bowen discussed the Serbian diaspora which is quite large in Australia and numbers over 100,000 citizens.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Serbian diaspora is not only a bridge and a basis for cooperation between Serbia and Australia, but also an important influence on the Australian political scene in terms of issues important for the region.
This is Serbia’s first official top level visit to Australia after 20 years, he added.
Dacic also talked with members of the Australian parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd.
He stressed that the Australian officials voiced readiness to improve both political and economic, as well as all other forms of relations between Serbia and Australia.
Rudd said that he will visit Belgrade and that a group of Australian businesspeople will come to Serbia to discuss investment possibilities.
Representatives of the Australian Federal Police, who are carefully monitoring the fight against crime in the Balkans, briefed Dacic about several operations in which the Serbian police can also participate.
These primarily concern illegal drug trade, bearing in mind that drugs are the most expensive in Australia, with a kilogramme of cocaine ranging from €120,000 to €200,000, which is two or three times more than in Western Europe, Dacic explained.
The price of cocaine in Australia is a motive to various criminal groups in the Balkans to connect with Australian criminal groups, therefore the drug trade is more often directed towards Australia.
This is one of the reasons for signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Serbian Ministry of the Interior and the Australian Federal Police on combating transnational crime and developing police cooperation, Dacic said.
Source Serbia Gov.