Croatia, Serbia Agree to Cooperate in Demining

Serbian Deputy PM Ivica Dacic and Croatia's Deputy PM Slobodan Uzelac said that demining centres in the two countries were already cooperating, but that there was room for improvement, especially in efforts to secure funds from foreign donors.

At a joint news conference in Belgrade, the two officials noted that both Serbia and Croatia still had large areas contaminated with mines, grenades and bombs left over from the wars of the 1990s, the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, and the two world wars.

Uzelac noted that Croatia had around 800 square kilometres on which mines, grenades and other explosive devices are located, mostly in the areas where refugees are returning.

He said it was extremely important to prevent innocent "war victims after the war," and expressed satisfaction with today's meeting, adding that he and Dacic had agreed that cooperation in this area needed to improve.

The Serbian deputy prime minister pointed out that the two countries had similar problems in demining and needed to cooperate even more closely and launch joint demining projects.

According to him, demining centers in the two countries could jointly present the projects to donors, such as international organisations and the EU, as demining is very expensive.

Dacic repeated that Serbia had identified 290 risky sites with cluster bombs, mine fields, aerial bombs and rockets, and another "110 suspicious locations."

He said that 64 aerial bombs and rockets were buried in the Sava and Danube river beds, and in the ground, while other locations were hiding another 50 suspected aerial bombs and rockets.