The reception centre from asylees will be opened until the end of 2008 when a permanent centre is to be built in Zagreb County.
A total of 19 asylum seekers from Palestine, Libya, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Mauritania are accommodated in the adjusted facilities of the traffic police station. The centre was opened by a state secretary of the Interior Ministry, Ivica Buconjic.
"A permanent centre for accommodating asylum seekers should be in Zagreb County and it should meet the EU standards," Assistant Interior Minister Zarko Katic said.
The opening of the new centre in Kutina was welcomed by Wilfriend Buchron on behalf of UNHCR and Constatino Longares on behalf of the European Commission. Longares said that a total of 25 million kuna have been allocated to Croatia for this purpose.
Also present at the opening were representatives of the Islamic community and the Serb Orthodox Church.
This year Croatia received 50 asylum applications and last year 171.
In the past few months the majority of asylum seekers were from Palestine, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro.