NATIONAL DAY OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Belgrade, 19 January 2005 – HRH Crown Prince Alexander II was invited by HE Mr. Dragan Jocic Minister of Police for the National Day of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 20 January.

HE Minister Jocic welcomed guest and reminded everyone that the Ministry of Police was founded 20 January 1811 and that the first Minister was Jakov Nenadovic. Today this Ministry is working intensively on modernization and education of its staff. For this purpose, the Ministry has a system for automatic fingerprinting search at its disposal, and a digital system “Tora” for fast and efficient data exchange which officially began operating today. According to Minister’s Jocic the Ministry took over the protection of the state borders from units of Serbia-Montenegro Army in order to integrate this Ministry with the Army of Serbia and Montenegro. The Minister Jocic pointed out that the main goal of this Ministry is to provide protection for our citizens and eliminate any kind of danger. In addition in the future special attention will be paid to the fight against organized crime, especially economic crime.

The most meritorious members of this Ministry and organizations received recognition for their commitment, and afterwards there followed a cultural-artistic program.

Besides HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, Prime Minister Kostunica, the Chief of the General Staff of Serbia and Montenegro, Lieutenant Colonel General Dragan Paskas, a representative of the President of Serbia, Mr. Jovan Ratkovic, Speaker of the House of the Serbian Parliament Mr. Predrag Markovic, the Deputy of Minister of Defense Mr. Vukasin Maras, HE the Minister of International Economic Relations Mr. Milan Parivodic, HE the Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo, HE the Minister of Mining and Energy Radomir Naumov, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, the OSCE Mission, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the representatives of the religious communities, as well as members of the Advisory Bodies of the Crown were also present at the celebration.