DEFENSE MINISTER AND US AMBASSADOR VISITED THE REFUGEES IN PRESEVO

21. August 2015.

Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic and the US Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby visited the Reception Center in Presevo in which, 1,200 refugees arrive per day on average. Regarding the refugee crisis, Ambassador Kirby said that we should think in more lasting terms, since colder days and winter were coming.

“Considering that teamwork exists between the governmental bodies in Serbia, it should be used by the international community too, "said the Ambassador, adding that he had learned from talking to refugees that they felt comfortable and welcome in Serbia. He said that the US would try to help the UNHCR, and, therefore, the refugees in Serbia too.

Migrants say that only here, in contrast to all the countries through which they passed, they are provided the fairest and most humane treatment and all the necessary conditions, Minister Gasic said. Responding to a question about the opening of a reception center in Belgrade, Minister Gasic said that the Serbian government would do what it had promised and that the facility, which could receive from 1,000 to 2,000 people, had to be constructed. Minister Gasic pointed out that the government would do everything to resolve the situation concerning refugees in the best possible way, and that the situation at the Centre was the evidence that the competent authorities worked on the reception of refugees and on ensuring all the conditions for their decent stay at it in a synchronized manner. Minister Gasic also said that sometimes up to 2,000 people came to the reception center in Presevo per day, and that there were 649 persons registered there at the time of his visit.

Source: “Danas” daily and Coordination Body