Star Metro - UK-Balkans meet targets people-smuggling, Russian disinformation

Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper pledged £10 million ($13 million) for "innovative programmes" designed to stop gangs from transporting undocumented migrants through countries in the region to the rest of Europe.

Almost 22,000 people travelled through Western Balkan countries to Europe last year, said a ministry statement.

The money will "support new projects... including law enforcement training in Kosovo, stronger border security and help for potential trafficking victims in Serbia", it added. 

The announcement came as Cooper welcomed foreign ministers from Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia to a meeting at Hillsborough Castle, south of Belfast.

Officials from European allies including France, Austria, Greece and Italy, also attended the summit -- part of the so-called Berlin Process that aims to boost co-operation between European and Balkan countries.

Cooper told the gathering the UK had a "long and enduring commitment to stability, security and prosperity in the Western Balkans".

She added: "We know that security in the Western Balkans affects the security of the whole of Europe and the security for us here in the UK."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Western Balkans leaders for a summit in London on October 22.

He is under pressure to cut record numbers of irregular migrants arriving on UK shores in small boats that are helping to fuel support for the hard-right Reform UK party.

During a visit to Albania in May, he revealed he was in talks with a number of countries about what he called "return hubs" for failed asylum seekers seeking to stall the process of being removed from the UK.

Cooper also announced Britain would provide £4 million for "cyber defences" in the Western Balkans to help "combat the constant flood of Russian hybrid threats aimed at destabilising the region, and fanning ethnic tensions".

M.Johnston--SMC