BOURNEMOUTH, Sept 30 (Hina) - Britain will soon cancel transit visas for citizens of Croatia, and experts from the two countries will review the visa regime, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said on Tuesday.
BOURNEMOUTH, Sept 30 (Hina) - Britain will soon cancel transit
visas for citizens of Croatia, and experts from the two countries
will review the visa regime, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan
said on Tuesday. #L#
Racan, currently on a working visit to Britain, met Home Secretary
David Blunkett on the sidelines of a Labour Party conference in
Bournemouth on Tuesday.
"During the meeting with Blunkett, our side was told that Britain
had decided to cancel transit visas, and that experts from both
countries would review the present visa regime," the prime minister
said after the talks, adding that this would lead to a relatively
speedy cancellation of visas for Croatian nationals.
Racan said the Croatian side insisted that the reasons for which
Britain had introduced visas no longer existed.
London introduced visas for Croatian citizens four years ago
because of a large number of people with the Croatian passport
seeking political asylum in Britain.
According to British sources, after the introduction of visas, the
number of people with the Croatian passport seeking political
asylum dropped from 2,000 to 40 per year. Transit visas are expected
to be cancelled within the next ten or so days.
Racan and Blunkett also discussed the fight against organised crime
and the problem of illegal migrations.
(hina) vm sb