Nehammer thanks Serbia for amending its visa regime

VIENNA - Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Friday Austria, Serbia and Hungary had succeeded in curbing illegal migration, and thanked Serbia for amending its visa regime for Indian and Tunisian nationals, which he noted had resulted in a decline in the number of illegal migrants in Austria.

He was speaking after a Vienna summit of the three countries.

At a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, Nehammer said the summit had particularly addressed further fight against illegal migration and people smuggling and the fight against organised crime.

He said the three countries had established cooperation after the EU system for fighting illegal migration had turned to be functioning not as well as it should.

He said the three countries had been hard hit by illegal migration but had meanwhile succeeded in achieving a slightly different way of thinking and new measures and procedures against organised crime and illegal migration.

He said they countries had succeeded in halting a trend of illegal migration.