BELGRADE (Serbia), March 27 (SeeNews) – Serbia has called on the Croatian and Slovenian governments to open more border crossings for freight transport in order to ensure the smooth transit of goods during the coronavirus crisis, the Serbian infrastructure ministry said on Friday.
"It is necessary to open more border crossings for international freight transit and to provide convoy-free transit corridors. This is not only a matter of humanity but also of security," Serbian infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said in a letter to her Croatian and Slovenian counterparts, according to a press release by Serbia's infrastructure ministry.
The reduced number of road transport crossings causes huge truck queues and long waiting times at the borders, Mihajlovic said in the letter.
"At a time when the EU is doing everything it can to speed up transport, by introducing green vehicle corridors, I suggest that we, together with the ministers of the interior, find a sustainable solution for faster transport between our countries so that transit trucks can pass faster and drivers do not gather in one place in large numbers," she added.
Currently, about 300 Serbian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Bosnian and North Macedonian trucks are queueing to enter Croatia at the Batrovci border crossing. At the entrance to Slovenia from Italy, at the border crossings of Gorizia and Sezana, about 100 Serbian trucks are waiting, the infrastructure ministry said.
Earlier this month, Croatia and Serbia closed their borders for passenger traffic in a bid to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on their territories. Slovenia closed its border with Italy.