Bosnia and Montenegro signed an agreement Thursday on regional and international cross-border traffic

Bosnia and Montenegro signed an agreement Thursday on regional and international cross-border traffic that will open new border crossings between the two countries.

The agreement is a revised version of previous documents signed in 2003 and 2005 between Bosnia and the former Union of Serbia and Montenegro. It was signed in Podgorica by Bosnia’s Security Minister Sadik Ahmetovic and Montenegro’s Internal Affairs Minister Ivan Brajovic.

Under the freshly signed agreement, two new border crossings between Bosnia and Montenegro (Bituljica in the Montenegrin municipality of Niksic, and Mestrovac in the Montenegrin municipality of Pljevlja) will be opened, Brajovic announced.

According to Ahmetovic, the accord will also help ensure more secure borders in the countries’ fight against organised crime.

At the signing, Brajovic proposed that Bosnia and Montenegro put in place one-stop border crossings. Under such a proposal, both countries’ border police would operate inside one building, rather than the current practice of two separate crossings.

Brajovic suggested that the measure could also be put in place with Montenegro’s other neighbours.

This practice is currently applied at the Sukobin – Muricani border crossing between Albania and Montenegro, and Brajovic on Thursday called the opening of this one-stop crossing in 2009 a “revolutionary” step, as it was the only example of its kind in the region. The European Union financed the construction of Sukobin – Muricani.

The new regional agreement between Bosnia and Montenegro is also expected to facilitate border crossings for the population living close to the border, and improve overall exchange and cooperation between the two countries.