(ANSA) - BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 20 - The European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has announced in an interview to a Serbian newspaper that the EU and Serbia on Thursday will sign an agreement in Belgrade to involve EU border agency Frontex in border control operations of the Balkan country. The accord - the commissioner told daily Blic - is a ''further important step in the fruitful cooperation with Serbia in border management''. The agreement, he added, will enable to deploy Frontex units in Serbia to operate alongside local border officers.

''This will contribute to strengthen the security of the EU's external borders and to better confront the problem of irregular immigration'', observed Avramopoulos, stressing that it is similar to agreements signed with Albania in February and Macedonia in July. ''I want to be clear'', he observed.

''Frontex contingents will support and work with national border guards but they will not replace them''. Avramopoulos, who will participate today in Brussels in an international conference on cyber security and the fight against crime in technology, has also announced a closer cooperation between Serbia and Europol.

''Negotiations are ongoing to send to Serbia shortly an officer liaising with Europol''. The aim is not only to fight migrant trafficking but also to combat organized crime, arms smuggling and terrorism. The commissioner said it is important in this respect for Belgrade not to push forward a liberalization of its visa regime for countries considered at risk on migrants and security. Serbia is an important partner of the EU, which over the last three years had a primary role in managing the migrant crisis along the Balkan route, concluded Avramopoulos. (ANSA).