Slovenian Interior Ministry State Secretary Bostjan Sefic (front) speaks at a press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on June 7, 2018. Officials from the countries along a migrant route through the Balkans vowed joint efforts Thursday to manage the increased influx of migrants. (Xinhua/Haris Memija)
SARAJEVO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Officials from the countries along a migrant route through the Balkans vowed joint efforts Thursday to manage the increased influx of migrants.
At a conference held in Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) capital, regional officials have analyzed the current situation and committed themselves to joint actions of prevention of illegal migration, smuggling and trafficking of human beings.
BiH Security Minister Dragan Mektic stressed the importance of creating a single biometric database on migrants which will be compatible with the EU databases.
"We agreed that each country should create a biometric database which must be compatible at the regional and at the EU level," Mektic said at a press conference.
Slovenian Interior Ministry State Secretary Bostjan Sefic said that the situation is under control, but countries of the region should make well-coordinated activities to deal with obstacles together, especially the problem of people traffickers.
He added that countries of the region should immediately approach to implementation of the measures, and cooperate in order to ensure the stability of the region.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called "Balkan route" in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe. BiH was not part of that route at the time.
However, migrants have turned to BiH in recent months, trying to avoid more heavily-guarded routes and borders in the Balkans.
Around 4,900 refugees and migrants have entered BiH since early January 2018, according to government estimates.
