First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic talked today to Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Kelly Clements, who is visiting the Republic of Serbia.

The meeting centred around the unfolding refugee and migrant crisis, a serious challenge that needed a joint response. In this regard, Ms. Clements praised the strenuous efforts invested by the Government of the Republic of Serbia in providing for and helping migrants. Minister Dacic stressed that Serbia, as a transit country, expected a unified solution at the EU level, and that we would continue to make efforts aimed at providing adequate assistance to the refugees and migrants, as we had done so far, while they stayed on the Serbian soil.

Serbia's years-long cooperation with the UNHCR in addressing the issues of refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the huge number of IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija, received a shared positive assessment. It was underscored that when it came to the current refugee and migrant crisis, the search for durable solutions to the issues of refugees and IDPs in protracted displacement would not be put on the backburner, and that the Republic of Serbia and the UNHCR would continue to pursue active cooperation on these issues.