The entire process began more than a year ago.
At the first stage, Macedonian border police took over the control of the frontier with Greece, later with Bulgaria and Serbia. Now with the police patrolling the border with Albania, Macedonia has wrapped up the process of integrated border management in line with European standards.
The Macedonian border with Albania is the most porous due to high mountains, and preparations of the border police for controlling this part of the frontier took the most time.
At a ceremony, which was held on Monday in the Macedonian lake-side resort of Ohrid, Interior Minister Ljubomir Mihajlovski officially took over the duty of border management from Defence Minister Jovan Manasievski. Present at the ceremony were officials of the European police Eupol Proxima, the European commission for reconstruction and representatives of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).
Minister Mihajlovski said that main duty of the border police is to combat crime, illegal border crossings, smuggling of goods, arms and narcotics as well as to fight against terrorism.